Party Next Door

Tenants in the neighboring building are disturbing the quiet enjoyment of my tenants by being drunk and disorderly almost every night. The owner of the building keeps telling me that she will take care of it, but so far there have been no results. What should I do?

This is a common problem in high-density housing environments like San Francisco. Unlike a situation where one owner has control over both the offending and the adversely affected units, in this instance you must address complaints emanating from a source outside of your apartment building.

The law allows both the disturbed tenants and you, as the neighboring owner, to file a claim, called a nuisance lawsuit, against the landlord who will not control the drunk and disorderly tenants next door. The term “nuisance” is broadly defined to mean behavior or conduct that impedes another person’s “quiet use and enjoyment” of their property. Common nuisance claims include loud noises, strong odors, and/or dangerous activities coming from another property. In this scenario, the neighboring landlord is allowing the building dwellers to maintain an ongoing nuisance in so far as the drunk and disorderly conduct each night seriously disturbs the rest and relaxation of other surrounding occupants.

The first step is to ensure that you have at least two or three letters from you to the other owner demanding that the nuisance be abated, or stopped. Include correspondence directly from your tenants describing their ongoing angst. Like all legal actions, you want to show the court that every reasonable measure was utilized to resolve the dispute prior to litigation. While you should not give the neighbor legal advice, you could suggest that the offensive tenants might be restrained with the assistance of an attorney who can terminate the tenancy if the partying does not cease. Thus, even though you cannot evict these unruly persons yourself, inform the owner that immediate action is required or you will have no choice but to initiate your own legal proceedings.

If the noise continues, you must commence a case for nuisance. The filing and service of this action will likely extract a more meaningful response from the owner. If not, you and your tenants will present the situation to the court and may receive a monetary award and/or an order prohibiting this late-night calamity.

In sum, be proactive and do not ignore your tenants’ plea for help. While you personally may not be disturbed by the ongoing chaos in an adjacent property, good landlords are attentive to the right of their tenants to live peacefully, and a failure to make substantial efforts to quiet the storm could lead to your tenants moving out or, in the worse case scenario, bringing a claim against you for not providing livable housing.

DW