Noisy neighbor doesn’t mean tenant can ditch apartment

Q: I’m from Cleveland. I had a one-year apartment lease and broke it after 10 months. Before that, I talked to the property owner about my noisy neighbor and asked to be relocated to another unit. But there was no other apartment available.

In short, I had to move out. And then I received a letter from an attorney for the landlord and a summons to go to court. Can you please tell me how to get out of this? I am quite serious; there was a lot of noise!

A: We’re sorry to say, but you can’t just “get out of it.” When you signed the lease, you agreed to the terms, and a noisy neighbor doesn’t give you the right to break your lease.

The lease likely required you to give written notice of your inability to live in the unit due to problems in the building; “talking” to the owner likely was not enough. Whether the noise was a sufficient issue to cause you to “vacate” is a legal issue that you might need to discuss with an attorney at this late date.

Your landlord is probably suing you for the two months’ rent you owe. You should go back and discuss the situation. Maybe you can negotiate to pay some of what was owed; that also would save the landlord more legal fees.

If that doesn’t work, hire an attorney to resolve this without further legal action. Do it soon, because you have only a certain number of days to respond if you have been sued.

There may have been remedies available under the lease or city or state laws. For example, some municipalities give additional rights to tenants. When landlords fail to abide by these rules, tenants get the right to terminate their leases. But that is a legal process with specific steps that must be followed.