Issues and Solutions for Problem Neighbors

If your neighbor is also a tenant of your landlord, your landlord has a duty to do something about it.

A landlord has a duty to ensure a tenant’s "peaceful possession" of the property. A landlord who allows one of his tenants to disturb his other tenants may be violating his responsibilty to ensure that his tenants are in peaceful possession of their property.

If the disturbance is so severe that the tenant is unable to use the leased property as intended, the tenant may be able to cancel the lease or refuse to pay rent. However, before canceling the lease or refusing to pay rent, the tenant must notify the landlord of the disturbance and allow the landlord to try to resolve the situation between the tenants.

If the disturbance is easily and quickly resolved, the tenant may not cancel the lease or refuse to pay rent. Even if the disturbance is not immediately resolved, the tenant should try to continue to notify the landlord until they are sure that the landlord will not take any action. Whether the disturbance is so severe that the tenant is justified in canceling the lease or refusing to pay rent will depend upon the circumstances of a particular case, so you should consult with an attorney to determine what options you have.

If the neighbor bothering you is someone else's tenant, that is not your landlord's problem.

In this situation, there is nothing the landlord can do to stop the disturbances. If it is significant, you may consider filing a police report.

It is against federal discrimination laws for neighbors to harass a tenant or homeowner because of his race.

If they won't stop, you can sue them to get a court order to make them stop. These laws against racial harassment apply to both tenants and owners. A neighbor can't harass you just because he doesn't like your race. The penalties for such racial harassment can be severe. Your landlord may also be liable under fair housing laws if he does nothing to stop the harassment.