Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New York

You may want to put your concerns into writing, by means of a letter to your landlord with specific details of dates and durations of your neighbor’s loud music and specific instances of aggressive behavior and of “nasty and unsanitary conditions”.

If the landlord does not respond adequately to your letter and does not take whatever remedial actions are necessary to compel your neighbor to desist from the loud music and aggressive behavior and unsanitary conditions, then your avaialble alternative may be to sue the landlord based on the landlord’s breach of Warranty of Habitability and of Quiet Enjoyment, which are explained below, with your letter to the landlord becoming evidence that the landlord was notified of the nuisance posed by your neighbor

Every New York multifamily residence rental is legally bound by an implied Warranty of Habitability under which the landlord must ensure “that the premises so leased or rented and all areas used in connection therewith in common with other tenants or residents are fit for human habitation and for the uses reasonably intended by the parties and that the occupants of such premises shall not be subjected to any conditions which would be dangerous, hazardous or detrimental to their life, health or safety.”(New York Consolidated Laws’ Real Property Law Section 235-b).

Similarly, New York tenants are also protected by a Warranty of Quiet Enjoyment of their rented apartments; among other things, the Warranty of Quiet Enjoyment generally requires your landlord to take any measures necessary to compel and control a frequently noisy neighbor up to, and including, evicting a frequently noisy neighbor as a nuisance, if all other means of landlord persuasion fail to convince the neighbor to stop the excessive loud music.

Your landlord’s failure to control your neighbor’s loud music could be deemed to be a violation and breach of the landlord’s breach and violation of your warrantied right to Quiet Enjoyment of your apartment while your landlord’s failure to remedy the “nasty and unsanitary conditions” as well as your neighbor’s aggressive behavior could be deemed to be a violation and breach of your landlord’s duties under the Warranty of Implied Habitability under which the landlord must again take any means necessary. up to, and including, evicting the neighbor as a nuisance, if all other means fail.