Quiet Enjoyment Inconsiderate Neighbors

[m5online]

Can I break my lease? We have new neighbors next door who have people knock and pound on there door from 9pm to 2am almost nightly. They also like to stand out front of there unit and talk very loudly using extreme and racial profanity. Our front doors are right next to each other. We've been emailing and calling the landlord to deal with the issue. He states that we need to "reach out" to our neighbors to solve the issue. We've surmised that our neighbors really dont care about the noise they make and how it disturbs others. Can we break our lease based on "quiet enjoyment" clause?

 

[army judge]

Can I break my lease? Can we break our lease based on "quiet enjoyment" clause?

You can't BREAK your lease.
You, can however, take your landlord to court and ask a judge to break the lease for the reasons previously outlined.
Or, you can use Civil Code Rule 1942.
I've addressed it first, then the other way.

Ending the Lease under Civil Code 1942

Ending the lease using Civil Code 1942 is a two step process. First write a letter to the landlord [keep a copy] requesting that the "following list" of items be immediately fixed. Start the list with the worst item, and go into some juicy details about how it negatively affects living there. You can make a small paragraph for each or simply list the item with some detail. Should this come to a legal battle, this will be the judge's first impression. Make it firm but polite in tone, with no profanity. Be sure to mention the prior efforts you made to ask him to fix these things, with some detail as to when, and his responses. This letter fulfills the first part of Civil Code 1942: notice to the landlord of the conditions. Even though the law doesn't require written notice, experience shows that landlord is more likely than not to deny he knew anything about it, that you praised him for maintaining such a palace, or that you caused everything yourself.

In this first letter, don't mention your plan to move for other reasons. For one, your Motive is irrelevant to moving. For another, it confuses the issue, making it seem that these conditions don't really exist, because you are making them up as an excuse for breaking your lease. As noted above, you are accomplishing your goal to fulfill your motive, but these are not made up conditions. They conveniently supply the legal reason to end your tenancy which the landlord's lack of common sense or fairness would not permit. The law only wants to know if you have a valid reason. Stay focused on that key.

This letter is not to appeal to the landlord's decency [which we presume is nonexistent, or you wouldn't have these problems], but to the judge, who will decide whether the landlord had notice and whether the conditions justified your ending the lease. With this letter, the judge can be convinced that the landlord had notice, and the burden then shifts to the landlord to show what he did, when so notified. In court, your letter speaks for you, and makes your case easier to present. Also, having so stated your case, you do not have the obligation to give any further notice to terminate your tenancy. The Legislature eliminated that, as a means of punishing the slumlord. All you really need to do after that is leave after a "reasonable time". This does not have to be 30 days, as it would to repair and deduct, and probably relates to the severity of the problem and the difficulty of having it repaired.

Weak efforts by the landlord do not satisfy Civil Code 1942; if they did, why bother writing this law. It is commonplace for the slumlord to send over someone for an estimate to make it look like they are making efforts, only to not hire the company to do the work, or claim they are seeking other estimates. It is also commonplace for the landlord to send over day laborers or an unqualified handyman to "fix" the problem. The worker either doesn't know what they are doing, makes it worse, doesn't fix the problem, only fixes it half way, doesn't or can't get the permit, isn't licensed to do the work, can't find the parts, or uses a chewing-gum-and-coat-hanger solution which doesn't solve the problem at all. Chances are, that's all you got when you asked before. If such a half-hearted effort is made, you should write another letter to the landlord explaining that the effort did not solve the problem, that you only have had people giving estimates, with no excusable failure to just fix the problems. If you don't write that follow-up letter, the landlord tells that judge that he honestly thought the problem was solved, and had no idea that it wasn't, because you SAID nothing. Your letter underscores what a cheap bastard the landlord is, and shows his bad faith, when you get to the Security Deposit battle, to triple your recovery. Efforts t6o fix the problems after you have made plans to go are too late, because you have the right to terminate after the problems remain unfixed after a reasonable time, and you can't be denied that right by the landlord making repairs as your moving van pulls up.

Landlords are generally unaware of this remedy, mostly because tenants rarely use it, and until recently, leases were a rarity. They will deny that you can do that, and even threaten to take you to court if you break the lease. Yet, ask them why Civil Code 1942 doesn't apply, and you'll learn that they have no idea what they're talking about. Tell them that their threats of a lawsuit constitute retaliation and bad faith, that you are writing that down, and that it will be another reason that the owner will be sued, and will want to know WHO brought this upon him. Get their name spelled correctly; watch how their bravado fades as you ask them to spell their name. If they are so confident that they are right and will not be fired for taking this position, they should have no problem identifying themselves for you. Also get the name of their supervisor, spelled.

When you are ready to leave, you should [but are not required to] write a final letter, explaining that since the landlord didn't fix the items you had complained about within a reasonable time, you are leaving the rental unit under Civil Code 1942, and that you want a final inspection of the premises, to be sure you get your security deposit back. Again, this letter is not to appeal to the landlord's reasonableness, his duty to comply with the law, or otherwise resolve this by the book, because you will probably get an arrogant and hostile response. Instead, it is to show the judge, that you did vacate under Civil Code 1942, and did request a pre-termination inspection. Your rent check for prorated rent through the last day should also show "Civil Code 1942 termination prorated" in the memo portion, not because it has to, but it makes your partial payment clear.

You can legally end the lease for several reasons, one of which may apply in your case. Review the ones that apply to you:
1. Uninhabitable conditions, which only need to affect habitability, not necessarily unlivable, and which may include:
a. Infestations of cockroaches, rats, or other vermin
b. Noxious odors, such as from sewage leaks, mold and mildew, dead rats in the walls, pigeons nesting in the attic
c. Noisy neighbors in your building, or
d. Criminal activity in the building or neighborhood, such as drugs and gang.

http://www.caltenantlaw.com/breaklease.htm

Starting tomorrow, start recording (surreptitiously) the behaviors of which you complained.
Before you begin the video, prove the date and time.
You can do that by capturing the menu from your cable provider, a newspaper, or something to prove the date and time.
Announce what you're recording and why.
Then you say the date and time.
Then play Hollywood for a few hours.
When you're ready to conclude your "horror movie of the night", end it with proof of the date and time.
Announce what your video purports to capture.
During the video, announce what you're seeing and capturing (who, what, where, when, why, etc...)

Okay, fast forward to 7 days alter.
Hopefully, you've captured lots of racial epithets, profanity, prostitution, maybe some drug deals, and lots of hopped up "yahoos"; howling into the darkness!
You've also kept a log with date and time of each noice offense.
Every time the noise gets out of hand, you've also called the police.
I wouldn't approach these thugs and ask them to do anything, but i would call the police when they make noise.
Every city has a noise ordinance.
Look yours up.
It limits noise after 8:00 pm or 10:00pm in most cases.
It even tells you how many DBs are too many.
If you can get a digital sound meter to measure the excessive noise, that also would help.
Amazon sells them for about $30.

http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Digital-Sound-Level-Meter/dp/B001THX3M0

Of course, document your findings by keeping a noise log.

By now you're saying, why so much stuff?
because your landlord can not just kick you out.
Your leasehold is valuable to you.
Your tenancy (rent payments) are valuable to your landlord.
For that reason, the law make sit difficult to break your lease.

Now, you'll need to send him letters in writing, asking him to stop the noisemakers.
Don't use the telephone to communicate.
Use certified or FedEx delivery to prove your communique was received.
If he does call you, record the call.
Remember, to date and time stamp it when the call is concluded.
Keep all recorded phone messages from the landlord.
California is a one party consent state.
So, you don't have to worry about asking the landlord's permission.
Yeah, I know what it says, but your recordings will be admitted if necessary in small claims.
That is where you're gonna take this bad boy, one day!

California is a two party state. You must inform the person they are being recorded. If the device emits a periodic beep, you don't have to inform them they are being recorded.

Every time these creeps violate the noise ordinance, call "911".
Keep another log.
The local police "911" log can be obtained, if necessary.
Yes, record the police interactions (surreptitiously).

You'll have to communicate (in writing) each violation you capture.
One letter will suffice for each day.
These will be the basis (plus videos, logs, recordings) for your lawsuit.
You'll then have to file the proceeding in your local small claims court.
Call the courthouse to find out how its done where you live.

This will take anywhere between 6-8 weeks BEFORE it gets heard.
Don't expect it to be fixed tomorrow.
So, keep recording after you've filed.

A great deal of trouble, huh?
You could try to negotiate your way out of the lease.
Ask your landlord what it'll cost to break your lease?
Yeah, it'll cost, I told you why already.

You have choice to make and work to do.
Good luck!

 

[m5online]

Thanks for the great advice! I have been keeping a detailed noise log since it started, as well as sending follow up emails after phone conversations with the landlord. Landlord refuses to respond to emails, he will only respond via phone calls. He does acknowledge receiving them when we talk on the phone. We've decided we are moving no matter what. We'll be sending our 30 day notice, along with a copy of our noise log via certified mail. I do regret not recording the disturbances earlier as that's totally something I'd do, just at the time the frustration of the disturbance gets you angry and not thinking straight.

These new neighbors are pretty ghetto, and the 3 times we've tried to talk to them about the noise, they literally give us the attitude stair, no verbal response at all, just angry stares. My landlord continues to tell us to 'reach out' to them to make them understand the noise they make. I'm done dealing with them, and we are even moving one of our cars (which shares parking area with one of there cars) to my parents house because I'm convinced it will end up damaged or keyed soon.

Even though we are moving out sooner than we should, my wife and I are willing to fight in court over this when the time comes.

 

[army judge]

Thanks for the great advice! I have been keeping a detailed noise log since it started, as well as sending follow up emails after phone conversations with the landlord. Landlord refuses to respond to emails, he will only respond via phone calls. He does acknowledge receiving them when we talk on the phone. We've decided we are moving no matter what. We'll be sending our 30 day notice, along with a copy of our noise log via certified mail. I do regret not recording the disturbances earlier as that's totally something I'd do, just at the time the frustration of the disturbance gets you angry and not thinking straight.

These new neighbors are pretty ghetto, and the 3 times we've tried to talk to them about the noise, they literally give us the attitude stair, no verbal response at all, just angry stares. My landlord continues to tell us to 'reach out' to them to make them understand the noise they make. I'm done dealing with them, and we are even moving one of our cars (which shares parking area with one of there cars) to my parents house because I'm convinced it will end up damaged or keyed soon.

Even though we are moving out sooner than we should, my wife and I are willing to fight in court over this when the time comes.

Fight before you move out.
You can't just move, your landlord will screw you.

How much longer do you have on the lease?

Maybe your landlord will allow you to negotiate a buy out of your lease?

You ask how much to get out oft lease?
Your landlord is a jerk, so height want too much money.
Ask and see, he might make it possible.
But, get it in writing if he does make a reasonable offer.

 

[BayState]

Any issues need to be be addressed to the LL via CRRR. Personal "notes" or "logs" are not sufficient.

 

[m5online]

We are done with him. It doesn't take rocket science to know what kind of people moved in next door. He went ahead and rented to them anyway knowing they were trash. The fact that he is blase about addressing the problem in addition knowing the kind of people he rents units too makes us just want to leave. We will be screwed out of our security for sure, so we plan on just living it out and dealing with cards as they are dealt. Are we violating the lease? We probably are, but we have also been a thorn in his side as tenants, so he have a feeling he'll just wash his hands of us when we are gone. In any case, if he ends up suing us over a broken lease, we have plenty stuff to use against him.

In other words, we are prepared to lose in court to get the hell out of here. We are just trying to mitigate as much damages as possible at this point, whatever they may be.

Lousy neighbors suck!