Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New York

Evicted through complaints of the neighbor.

A recently emmigrated polish family rents an apartment. A single mother and two children, 8 and 14. The upstairs neighbor lodges several complaints with the landlord about noise. She has contacted the single mother to complain about the noise of showers being taken early in the morning, cigarrette smoke coming from the apartment, and other seemingly petty offenses. If this single mother and her children are just going about their normal daily lives (no parties, the kids do make some noise when they play), and are being threatened by the landlord with eviction due to the complaints of one person (the police have never been there and all the other neighbors like her and her family, but won't sign a paper attesting to the fact that they have no complaints, what defense is there? What is the best way to handle this situation? There are some people that, no matter what you do to appease them, will go to any length to get their way, and it doesn't seem fair, especially if one is well within reasonable behavior.


Asked on 11/20/03, 5:43 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Loeb Law Office of Stephen R. Loeb

Re: Evicted through complaints of the neighbor.

Your best defense is that the family has done nothing to break the terms and conditions of their lease. Specifically the noise level is not unreasonable and they are not doing anything other than living their normal lives. The burden is on the evicting party to prove that the noise level is unreasonable.

Should you like to discuss this or any other legal matter, you can call my office to schedule an appointment for a consultation or in the alternative, I can be reached for on-phone low-cost legal consultation at 1-800-275-5336 x0233699.

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Answered on 11/20/03, 9:29 am


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