T
taralee469
Guest
My lease has a quiet use/enjoyment clause, which states:
Quiet Enjoyment/Use. All residents shall be entitled to quiet enjoyment of the premises. Resident shall not use the premises in such a way as to violate any law or ordinance, commit waste or nuisance, annoy, disturb, inconvenience or interfere with the quiet enjoyment of any other resident, including but not limited to having or late parties or playing loud music. Residents shall insure that their guests also comply with this provision. Violations constitute a breach of the agreement, and owner may take legal action to terminate the agreement and remove resident.
I have a neighbor who installed surround sound for their television, and ever since then, the noise from their tv is intolerable. I sent them a letter yesterday, asking them to keep the noise down, and possibly move their speakers so it didn't affect us so much. This is their response:
Dear Neighbors,
While we appreciate your courteousness in your letter, we don't feel as though we disturb you so terribly. City & sound ordinances in the City of Costa Mesa is 11pm--our TV is never loud that late. We also do not have any speakers on the adjoining wall to our apartments. We have turned down the bass in the speakers that are on the opposite wall. I have included in this note a copy of the Costa Mesa Municipal code stating just that. I've also included clause 11 in the lease that states:
[they repeat the quiet enjoyment/use clause here]
The reason for including a copy of the local sound ordinance is that applicable laws supercede any contractual obligations, and we are in compliance with the City of Costa Mesa noise ordinance. This information was relayed to us by Jessica in the front office. If you have any questions regarding this information, you may wish to contact her directly. We also did not want to include the rental office in this issue, but we did so to ensure that our own rights as tenants were not being abused by our request.
Thanks,
Neighbors in 32A
If I'm understanding them correctly, they're saying that they don't have to be quiet because they're not breaking the city law (which states that sound can't be above 55 decibels during the day, and 55 at night). This is completely ignoring part of what the quiet use clause states (about being annoying, disturbing, etc). They got this information from the management office, though, so our complaining to the office will probably do nothing. It sounds to me like the office is unwilling to enforce the quiet use clause (as stated in the neighbor's letter above. Why does the lease have a quiet use clause if it's unenforceable and superceded by city law??) and that this gives us grounds to break our lease. Any thoughts? How can I argue this with the office and make our case? And am I going to have to take this to court?
In case you need to know, I live in Costa Mesa, CA.
Quiet Enjoyment/Use. All residents shall be entitled to quiet enjoyment of the premises. Resident shall not use the premises in such a way as to violate any law or ordinance, commit waste or nuisance, annoy, disturb, inconvenience or interfere with the quiet enjoyment of any other resident, including but not limited to having or late parties or playing loud music. Residents shall insure that their guests also comply with this provision. Violations constitute a breach of the agreement, and owner may take legal action to terminate the agreement and remove resident.
I have a neighbor who installed surround sound for their television, and ever since then, the noise from their tv is intolerable. I sent them a letter yesterday, asking them to keep the noise down, and possibly move their speakers so it didn't affect us so much. This is their response:
Dear Neighbors,
While we appreciate your courteousness in your letter, we don't feel as though we disturb you so terribly. City & sound ordinances in the City of Costa Mesa is 11pm--our TV is never loud that late. We also do not have any speakers on the adjoining wall to our apartments. We have turned down the bass in the speakers that are on the opposite wall. I have included in this note a copy of the Costa Mesa Municipal code stating just that. I've also included clause 11 in the lease that states:
[they repeat the quiet enjoyment/use clause here]
The reason for including a copy of the local sound ordinance is that applicable laws supercede any contractual obligations, and we are in compliance with the City of Costa Mesa noise ordinance. This information was relayed to us by Jessica in the front office. If you have any questions regarding this information, you may wish to contact her directly. We also did not want to include the rental office in this issue, but we did so to ensure that our own rights as tenants were not being abused by our request.
Thanks,
Neighbors in 32A
If I'm understanding them correctly, they're saying that they don't have to be quiet because they're not breaking the city law (which states that sound can't be above 55 decibels during the day, and 55 at night). This is completely ignoring part of what the quiet use clause states (about being annoying, disturbing, etc). They got this information from the management office, though, so our complaining to the office will probably do nothing. It sounds to me like the office is unwilling to enforce the quiet use clause (as stated in the neighbor's letter above. Why does the lease have a quiet use clause if it's unenforceable and superceded by city law??) and that this gives us grounds to break our lease. Any thoughts? How can I argue this with the office and make our case? And am I going to have to take this to court?
In case you need to know, I live in Costa Mesa, CA.