constructive eviction?

[hippie chick]

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

I'm trying to understand how constructive eviction works, and if it applies to my situation.
I live in apartment, and my neighbors have a dog that frequently barks for hours on end. In addition, if I don't have my a/c running, I hear EVERYTHING from their apartment- the phone ringing, coughs and sneezes, tv, etc. They also slam the door when they come and go, even at 6 am, not to mention mysterious banging at any hour of the day.
My landlord knows that I'm very unhappy here, and that I'm afraid to talk to my neighbors about the noise- this had happened with the previous tenant to an even worse degree, and that tenant threatened me when I asked him to keep it down a little. The management here seems reluctant to do anything about keeping tenants in line, as I've already asked them to talk to my neighbor, but the noise has only gotten worse.
Can anyone please let me know if I have a case for constructive eviction, and if so, how I can go about pursuing it? I'm a good tenant stuck with a bad landlord for the first time in my life and just don't know what to do.
Thanks to anyone who can help!

 

[FarmerJ]

you have to start with calling the police and asking if your town has a disturbing the peace ordinance for evening and night hours . once you know that then start calling them if the town has one . and log the dates on a calender .

 

[shanghaiduck]

The trouble is, the burden of proof is on you, and there are a lot of things you have to do to prove it. First, a contructive eviction is legally defined as "where a landlord’s property is so unfit for habitation, the tenant is compelled to leave." (From legal definitions.com).

Barking dogs and hostile neighbors are an unfortunate reality of life, and there is no law against being an *******. It would be difficult to make this hold up as a valid reason for constructive eviction, and unlikely that you would be able to gain any sort of compensation from the landlord.

Anyway, what are you trying to accomplish? Do you want to get out of your lease, or just kick your landlord in the butt because you're angry and maybe make some money in the deal?

You might just try checking your local laws and studying your lease to see if you can find a way to break the lease without penalty and move.

 

[shanghaiduck]

Oh yeah ... if you document your efforts ... calling the police, animal control, etc and than go to the landlord, this might help.

 

[hippie chick]

constructive eviction- more questions

Thanks for your answers.
What I'm trying to do is get out of my lease without having to pay nearly $4000, which is my landlord's terms. The barking dog does violate my city's noise ordinance, but I'm afraid of repercussions against me by the tenant if I report it. Calling the police frightens me, too, because the previous noisy tenant threatened my life when I did that. The people in this area are pretty scary- I don't want any confrontations, I just want to leave peacefully and find a quiet place to live.
I've read that I may be able to claim constructive eviction because my lanlord is unable to prevent other tenants from obstructing my right to quiet enjoyment of the leased premises. I have what I think is called a plain language lease, which clearly states that tenants must not create disturbances to others. Am I wrong in thinking that doors slamming, waking me up every day between 5:30-7:00 am, constitutes a serious disturbance? I'm well aware of the level of noise that's considered a normal part of apartment life, and this, combined with everything else, seems to me to cross the line. If I'm wrong, please tell me!
If I have a chance at this, I know I have to send a certified letter to my landlord, but I'm not sure what it should state. They already know this is an issue to me, and I'm not sure if they confronted the tenant about the noise or not.
Thank you for reading this and for any advice you may have.

 

[shanghaiduck]

$4000?! For what? You might want to check and see if the terms of your lease are legally enforceable. I agree with you that living among uncivilized people is a bad spot to be in.

 

[Esquire555]

$4,000 is a little too much. The landlord has a duty to mitigate his damages, meaning he must find a tenant within a reasonable time if you vacate and sue you for damages. But I doubt the damages add up to $4k. So I would give him a 60 day notice to vacate. He would have to sue you to get the $4k and he knows the court will never let him get the $4k.

 

[MiniFoxx]

Constructive eviction definition

Here is the explaination of Constructive Eviction according to this web site.

WHAT IS "CONSTRUCTIVE EVICTION?"
Constructive eviction occurs when residential rental property is an uninhabitable condition. The uninhabitable condition makes the property unsuitable to live in. When residential real property is uninhabitable, it creates a condition under which the tenant has been "constructively evicted"; the facts and circumstances are such that the tenant is unable to have full use and possession of the rental property and thus, in reality, has been "evicted."

To claim constructive eviction, thereby relieving the tenant from the obligation to pay rent to the landlord, the tenant must serve the landlord with written notice of the constructive eviction and provide the landlord with a reasonable amount of time to cure the defects. If the landlord does not correct the defects within a reasonable amount of time, the tenant may then be able to leave the rental property and not be responsible for payment of rent which would have been due under the lease or rental agreement.

http://real-estate-law.freeadvice.com/landlord_tenant/

Check out that link for more Q&A. Hope this helps some.
Good luck. I agree with the others. Call the police and DOCUMENT EVERYTHING!!!!!!
MiniFoxx

 

[shanghaiduck]

I think the puzzle part is finding out what can legally be construed as "unsuitable to live in" ....I would like to have the answer to this myself! I know this sounds cynical , but it seems when there are gray areas in the law like this and the burden of proof is on the victim, it usually means the deck is stacked against you. If there are any lawyer-types out there reading this thread, I would like to know whether cases like this are generally decided on legal precedent or if there is some type of general outline one could look at. So far, I have been able to find nothing of the latter, but I wonder if there would be some way to look for past cases that were similar to find out which way the wind blows on this type of thing ....

 

[shanghaiduck]

Here's something I learned by looking at past court decisions and cases in my own state: you must first move out to claim constructive eviction. And: you must prove the landlord has violated a **statutory** obligation (meaning specifically defined by law) to provide basis for your claim. For example, even though I live in Florida, I could not claim constructive eviction if there was no air conditioner because there's no law saying the landlord has to provide one! In Florida!

 

[shanghaiduck]

Here's a good article: http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2000/03/06/smallb2.html

 

[MiniFoxx]

shanghaiduck is right...

it has to be something specifically outlined in housing code. My place as an example; the roof needs repairs and is starting to fall in....I cannot utilize my garage...my basement is full of mold, mildew and condensation....therefore we cannot use it as we intended and agreed w/ LL on, as bedrooms for 3 of our boys....

Unsuitable would be 'unsafe', 'unhealthy' or like a fire risk, bad wiring, box out of code, etc...hope this helps

MiniFoxx

 

[dequeendistress]

You need proof that you notified the landlord and you need proof that the situation is a threat to health and safety.

You are afraid to call police because the perp may threaten you? Classic excuse. How do you think you are going to document the noise and disturbances? If the neighbor did threaten you, then you call the police back, make a formal complaint on the threat.

Now, if you just want out of your lease, then negotiate with your landlord. You also stated you are stuck with a bad landlord...sounds like to me that you are stuck beside a bad neighbor. How do you know that the landlord did not talk to or advise neighbor to cease disturbing others? This very well could be the reason why the noise escalated. Your other neighbors are not being disturbed as well?

 

[hippie chick]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

I recently spoke with a neighbor in my community who is being allowed to leave his lease early, no problem. Meanwhile, my LL is demanding I pay three month's rent, which is close to 4K, if I want to leave early. My lease sates that if I terminate early, I "will be responsible for all cost and losses incurred by the landlord due to such early termination, including but not limited to any loss of rent for the balance of the lease terms or until the leased unit is re-rented, and costs of re-renting and refurbishing the leased unit." My renewal only went into effect on May 31, so that's a lot of money they could try to get from me.
I was thinking of pursuing constructive eviction to get out of here because I'm in a bad situation and the LL will not negotiate better terms with me. I've gotten some good advice from this board, so now that path seems like too much of a risk and a hassle for me to handle right now. So I'm leaning towards just giving 60 days written notice that I'm leaving, then let them try to take me to court of they want. I know that's risky, too, but my credit is already bad, and I have nothing they could take from me if they get a judgement against me. I feel terrible about this, but my LL won't even talk to me about working this out.
Does anyone have any other suggestions on how I can handle this?

***Minnie, you have my sincerest sympathies for what you're going through. I wish I could be of assistance to you and others who answered my previous post, but my knowledge of law is virtually non-existent. Also, my apologies to any landlords who may read this and fume at my audacity, this is my first time dealing with an unethical LL and don't know what to do.
Thank you to all who have taken the time to read this!

 

[blameshifting]

"My renewal only went into effect on May 31"

You renewed your lease? Did people start sneezing, phones start ringing and people start slamming their doors in the morning all start after you renewed your lease?