Noise and nuisance issues

[AlanBerkman]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

Hello! I am a renter/tenant in an apartment in Philadelphia PA.
Im having a difficult time with upstairs neighbor, several young men, who play loud music and have parties frequently that are a violation of our tenancy agreement:

�Tenant will not disturb the peace and quiet of other tenants or neighbors.�
"Tenant will not play music etc during quiet hours of 10:30 pm- 8:30 am. Tenant may not make any other disturbing noise"
"Tenant may not do anything that interferes with the rights, comforts, safety or convenience of the other tenants"

I did start byy calling and visiting with them to ask that they turn it down. But that only worked for a few days at a time. I then started reporting violations, 3-4 times now, to the Landlord and they sent out vague general emails to everyone highlighting the quiet requirements.
But its continued now for 6 months.

This weekend it happened again. Music turned all the way up so loudly that I literally have to wear headphones.
And then at 5 am I had the drunk brother of one of them, who I dont know, ringing by bell repeatedly because he was locked out and wouldnt stop until I went down and had to deal with this drunk guy face to face. He became ****y and belligerent. Not fun.

So I contacted my property manager and this was her only response" "I cannot do anything further unless a police report is given to me."

I called her disappointed by her lack of action or help and she said due to legal reasons they must have a police report. I hadn't called the police. So she did nothing.

Their MO all along appears to be to put it on me to handle. I have no interest in involving the police, and some are violations of my rights, but are not necessarily police matters. Like loud music at 8 pm, or ringing my bell at 5 am. I feel like Im in a terrible position.

Any advice?
Is it true my landlord needs a police report to help? My brother is an attorney and said hes unaware of such a claim, but this isnt his area.
They do have a tenancy agreement with us all, and this tenant is in violation. What do they need to enforce their own agreement? Their only recourse cannot just be me calling the police.

Thats the short story. Im so annoyed!

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? PA

Hello! I am a renter/tenant in an apartment in Philadelphia PA.
Im having a difficult time with upstairs neighbor, several young men, who play loud music and have parties frequently that are a violation of our tenancy agreement:

�Tenant will not disturb the peace and quiet of other tenants or neighbors.�
"Tenant will not play music etc during quiet hours of 10:30 pm- 8:30 am. Tenant may not make any other disturbing noise"
"Tenant may not do anything that interferes with the rights, comforts, safety or convenience of the other tenants"

I did start byy calling and visiting with them to ask that they turn it down. But that only worked for a few days at a time. I then started reporting violations, 3-4 times now, to the Landlord and they sent out vague general emails to everyone highlighting the quiet requirements.
But its continued now for 6 months.

This weekend it happened again. Music turned all the way up so loudly that I literally have to wear headphones.
And then at 5 am I had the drunk brother of one of them, who I dont know, ringing by bell repeatedly because he was locked out and wouldnt stop until I went down and had to deal with this drunk guy face to face. He became ****y and belligerent. Not fun.

So I contacted my property manager and this was her only response" "I cannot do anything further unless a police report is given to me."

I called her disappointed by her lack of action or help and she said due to legal reasons they must have a police report. I hadn't called the police. So she did nothing.

Their MO all along appears to be to put it on me to handle. I have no interest in involving the police, and some are violations of my rights, but are not necessarily police matters. Like loud music at 8 pm, or ringing my bell at 5 am. I feel like Im in a terrible position.

Any advice?
Is it true my landlord needs a police report to help? My brother is an attorney and said hes unaware of such a claim, but this isnt his area.
They do have a tenancy agreement with us all, and this tenant is in violation. What do they need to enforce their own agreement? Their only recourse cannot just be me calling the police.

Thats the short story. Im so annoyed!

I suggest you check out the noise ordinances for your city/township. If the tenants are violating the noise ordinance, call the police, and do this each and every time the tenants violate the ordinance.

Report to your landlord that you have reported the tenants violations to the police.

The good news is that the landlord will probably not renew the lease of the annoying tenants, so you might eventually have peace and quiet.

 

[BL]

You say that you do not want to involve the police, but you must. If you can obtain a report all the better.
Often times the police will give a warning first,if it continues a couple more times ,fist a fine, then possibly an arrest.
The police have to hear the noise to take any action except to talk to the neighbor's.

If you call 911 ,there will be a record of your calls that could possibly used for the landlord/manager.

Ater many complaints ,I was told I was a problem by ( families in crisis division ).

 

[FarmerJ]

AlanBerkman when a landlord has taken a tenant in to court because they have violated their lease the LL needs proofs and not just one incident , see your neighbor if the LL sent to them a notice telling them they have violated their lease and have to move out (even though the lease is not up yet ) and the neighbor decides that they are going to dig in their heels and make the LL take them to court the LL is going to have to have proof and not just one incident either in order to show the court that the tenant had been warned to stop violating and continued to a point that the LL now wants to show the court why it should agree with the LL. Eviction for non payment is way easier than other lease violations since tenant can be asked to produce proof of payment. where as other lease violations take in some instances lots of proofs.

 

[AlanBerkman]

Thanks folks!

The issue Im having is that my landlord has made no attempt to resolve the situation, and I feel has instead pushed that responsibility on to me. They may need proof in court, but I would hope complaints by their tenants would be enough to make direct contact with the guilty party to try and resolve peacefully. I am not asking for an eviction, I just want to be able to enjoy my 'quiet enjoyment".

FYI. I live in an apartment building. The police cannot hear us from the street. Im usually in bed when these things happen.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

"The issue Im having is that my landlord has made no attempt to resolve the situation, and I feel has instead pushed that responsibility on to me. They may need proof in court, but I would hope complaints by their tenants would be enough to make direct contact with the guilty party to try and resolve peacefully."

You have rights. These tenants have rights.

You're the one complaining and yes, your complaints sound like they are certainly justified but just what would you like the landlord to do? The answer would be an eviction of the other tenants and for that, they would need to show a court proof of such.

A police report would be good proof.

The other option would be for the landlord to subpoena you as a witness in a court hearing to justify the eviction.

Choose the police report instead.

Gail

 

[FarmerJ]

Alan in a court room so called reports - findings by governmental agents - police , fire dept personnel , social worker reports and many other governmental agency documents -reports - records are used in civil court more than most people realize, so each and every instance of the peace being disturbed call 911 and start out ` this is not a emergency just incase they have several emergencys going on at once then tell them what the issue w noise is. note the incident and time on your calendar .