Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New Jersey
Noisy Neighbors
My neighbors are very noisy people. They blast two radios' at a time,sometimes with each one on a different station. Yelling and fighting regardless of the time of day or night. She moved her son in with her without the landlords permission. He harrasses all the tenants in the building.He is constantly trying to put his arms around me(like to hug me)I have told him to leave me alone and to keep his hands off of me many times.Everyone living in that apartment are over 21 years of age.When the grandchildren are here they are allowed to run and scream through the halls and apartment. Have told the landlord about this but my neighbor will lie to him and put the blame on everyone else. She will take no responsibility for what goes on in her apartment. What can we do to make the landlord act on our complaints besides taking the landlord or the neighbors to court? This has been going on almost everyday for a year now. This is a four family house and the owner does not live here.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Noisy Neighbors
Your main question is "What can we do to make the landlord act on our complaints besides taking the landlord or the neighbors to court?" The short answer is, "Not much." You cannot force people to be reasonable if they really do not want to be. This is the reason that the Courts are there. First of all, most leases have a clause saying something like the fact that as long as you pay your rent, you have the right to peaceable possession. If the landlord allows his other tenants to act this way (which is a breach of their lease), then arguably he is breaching his lease with you. You can either notify the landlord that he is in breach and if he does not, then you will consider this to be a constructive eviction, and then you can leave with no further obligation to pay rent. Be careful, though. You act at your own risk and you are banking on the fact that a Court would ultimately agree with you if the landlord takes you to Court. Your other alternative is to sign a complaint with the police which would be heard by the Municipal Court Judge. Most towns have a peace and good order ordinance and it appears that your neighbors are violating this. Before you try any of this however, you should try your best to talk to all concerned to try to come to a reasonable understanding. Good luck!
Re: Noisy Neighbors
There are court cases holding that a landlord is violates a tenant's right to "quiet enjoyment" of an apartment due to unreasonably noisy neighbors. Yours seems to be a strong case for that. The last I checked however, the remedy was for the victim tenant to terminate the lease and move out. Assuming you don't want to move, send a letter by certified mail to your landlord outlining your complaints so you have strong proof that he is aware of the problem. Then, try to get others like you to sign a petition and consider withholding rent in escrow. That will probably get the landlord's attention. If the matter went to court against you and others refusing to pay rent, even if you lost (seems unlikely) I doubt that a judge would make you pay late charges and you couldn't be evicted if you paid up. Good luck.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
