As a landlord, you’re going to have to deal with lots of people. That sometimes means clashing with other personalities. Some of the most common causes of arguments among tenants are noise complaints. And in certain cases, the noise can come from homes that aren’t your property! So what can you do to manage noise complaints and keep your current tenants from leaving? This article is a landlord’s guide on how to properly handle noise complaints.
When Is a Noise Complaint a Landlord’s Responsibility?
In some cases, too much noise is illegal due to noise ordinances. This can be true regardless of whether the property is a rental or not. Additionally, tenants have the right to quiet enjoyment, which means that they should be able to enjoy the property they’re living in undisturbed. In both cases, it’s a landlord’s responsibility to attend to these noise complaints. If the noise complaint is coming from your property, you’ll have to contact the tenant.
If the noise isn’t coming from your property, the tenant may need to contact the HAO or law enforcement, depending on how bad the situation is. If that doesn’t help, then you may need to work out an agreement with your tenant, such as reducing rent as an incentive to stay or helping them with the move-out process if the noise is intolerable. In the future, you may want to warn applicants about the noise and possibly sue. But when excessive noise is coming from a property that isn’t yours, there’s not much you can do besides wait and leave it up to the law.
Learn When To Take Action
Sometimes, you’ll receive noise complaints that aren’t necessarily valid. For example, if a neighbor hosts the occasional party during the day, and a tenant complains about the noise, it’s within the neighbor’s rights to do so. However, if the party is excessively loud and leads into the night when people are trying to sleep, then you can consider this a nuisance. You can judge the validity of the noise complaint by observing how loud it is, what time of day it occurs, and how often the noise happens. The occasional overheard domestic argument is one thing, but constant yelling crosses into the realm of the unreasonable.
Include a Clause in Your Lease Agreement
There may come a time when a neighbor or neighboring tenant will complain about another tenant making too much noise. One of the best ways to protect yourself and deal with difficult tenants is to have a solid lease agreement, including having a clause about excessive noise. A good lease agreement puts the responsibility to uphold expectations on the tenant. If your lease agreement includes noise curfews and a right to quiet enjoyment clause, then the tenant must abide by them or face possible eviction.
With this landlord’s guide on how to properly handle noise complaints, you can deal with the most common and trickiest tenant issue. Now, you can keep your tenants happy.
