Legal Question in Personal Injury in Maryland
I live in Maryland. The house next door is rented to students. It is a small rambler built for a single family; the landlord has reconfigured the interior into a number of small rooms and rents it to six people. They often have guests who stay indefinitely with them, so there are always a ton of people in that house. As a consequence, they spill onto a screened back porch at night, which is about 20 feet from my bedroom window and about 10 feet from the property line. Our local noise ordinance forbids noise above 55 decibels (loud conversation) at the property line after 8 pm, but students have hung out there sometimes until 4 am, talking, drinking, laughing, swearing, and sometimes yelling. When they do, the noise has made it impossible to sleep in my own bedroom, and sometimes it has made it impossible to sleep anywhere in the house without wearing noise canceling headphones. However, the noise does not bother any other neighbors because the porch is only adjacent to my bedroom.
This has been going on sporadically for years, depending on the renters (who turn over quickly). I've absolutely had it. I have about a year of correspondence with the landlady (asking nicely, asking firmly, asking aggressively) and I've started calling the police.
I am getting to the point where I am considering suing for nuisance. I've kept a log of noise disturbances indicating time and type of disturbance, but given that I am the only one disturbed, I thought I'd probably need more evidence than this. I bought a surveillance camera with audio to set up in my bedroom window to show who, when, and how loud. However, it came to my attention that it is illegal to record peoples' conversations when they have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Can I legally tape my loud neighbors from my property for the purpose of gathering evidence in court of noise disturbance? Can they have an expectation of privacy if they are outside, next to my bedroom window, violating the noise ordinance? Many thanks.
1 Answer from Attorneys
As a graduate of American University (undergrad) and Catholic University Law School, I have to admit that 15 years ago, I could have very well have been one of those students. My belated apologies! :-) With that said.....
PRIVATE NUISANCE
In Maryland, a cause of action under a theory of private nuisance requires a showing (1) that the nuisance has diminished materially the value of the property as a dwelling, and (2) that the nuisance has seriously interfered with the ordinary comfort and enjoyment of the property. "Significant harm" is necessary to establish liability for a private nuisance. Examples of the kinds of activities that have been recognized by Maryland courts as private nuisances include polluting smokestacks, corroded tanks leaking hazardous waste into groundwater, barking dogs, noisy trains, and malodorous hog farms.
Generally, in an action for nuisance, the measure of damages is compensation for the injury suffered by the plaintiff, taking into consideration all losses caused by the nuisance. The measure of damages in an action for private nuisance is the diminution of value of the use of the property as a home. Elements to be considered include recompense for sickness or ill health of those in the home caused by the nuisance.
VIDEOTAPING THE NEIGHBORS
I would not recommend videotaping the neighbors' backyard. You risk being sued for invasion of property. They could also call the cops on your for stalking.
CALLING THE COPS
Yes, call the cops! Keep calling them every single time the noise is out of control. The cops will get sick of hearing from you, and will thereby get sick of this house. REQUEST that the cops will out of report each time they arrive. Don't just complain about the noise. Do the students appear to be college students? If so, they are likely drinking underage.
ZONING ISSUES
You may consider hiring a Maryland attorney who specializes in zoning issues. If the landlord is changing the interior of the home, chances are that he may be violating various zoning laws by doing so. If you can determine whether he's violating zoning laws, you can start calling zoning enforcement to out to the property.
Best of luck.*******The above is for informational purposes only and does not create an attorney-client privilege.********
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