LL not honoring part of the lease?

[rondoamr]

I recently moved into an apartment where the landlord lives directly above me. I am a professional musician (classical piano) and I practice about 5 hours daily. The landlord knew this before agreeing to having me there. There is a clause in the lease that there will be "mutually acceptable practice hours." There is also a clause which says that I will be responsible for putting a rug in the room with the piano and they will install soundproofing in that room.

What if they decide that it's too expensive for them to install this soundproofing material? They have now told me that they might not do it if it costs too much. Can they evict me for creating too much noise? Can they set the practice hours at prohibitively narrow hours? I don't want to make their lives miserable, but this is my vocation and livelihood!

Thank you for reading.

[concord]

-- CLARIFY THE LEASE TERMS --

Firstly, I would suggest that you clarify a few points:

(1)
Does the clause specify the exact time slot for piano practice during the day (e.g. from 2:00PM to 4:00PM)?

(2)
Are the characteristics of the rug that, you must install, defined?

(3)
Are any binding time frames listed at all (e.g. soundproofing shall be installed by this date; tenant may or, may not, start practicing until the soundproofing has been installed, etc.)?



-- CONTRACTUAL PERSPECTIVE --

I am looking at this strictly from a contractual view. I would suggest that, if none of these terms are defined with clarity then there is wiggle-room for you. That is, you may reasonably assume that the following would be compliant with the expressed terms of the contract [the lease]:


(A)
"Mutually acceptable practice hours" are any four-hour stretch between 10:00AM to 5:00PM.

(B)
The rug that you shall install can be of any (good or poor) quality as long as it provides some insulation from the piano’s vibration to the floor.

(C)
The landlord understands that you must practice daily and that you must start such practice immediately as part of your profession.


(I wouldn’t wait for the LL to grant me permission to start practicing; I would start now.)




-- TRANSPORTATION EXPENSE --

If you are non-regulated then I can’t answer as to your LL’s right to terminate your lease. But if the LL does have the right to do so (I believe with 30 days notice) then I would certainly seek reimbursement from the LL for the expense of moving the piano into that apt and also out of that apt upon an eviction.

Soundproofing is expensive – the LL should have known that before agreeing to it. If he wishes to get rid of you this quickly while you are able to pay the rent and you can make an argument in court that he is evicting you due to the noise factor then I would like to think that a judge would be sympathetic to you for being tricked into moving in by an LL who had no intension of incurring the soundproofing expense but who did instead intend from the onset to simply get you in and then prohibit your use of the piano with the threat of eviction. This is clearly an egregious act by the LL.

On the other hand, if the law allows the LL to evict you without cause (while providing adequate notice) then a judge could be heartless and simply rule in the LL’s favor. While judges are not obligated to be sympathetic I think that in your case one would be in respect to the moving expenses of the piano.


-- JUDGE’S AUTHORITY --

Does a judge have the discretion to deny the LL’s petition to evict you based upon the egregious nature of his action (or non-compliance with the terms of the lease as you would have it) or to even impose any penalties upon the LL for such?

I don’t know the answer – hopefully somebody else here does.

[rondoamr]

concord,

thank you for the thorough reply. the lease does not specify any times, but i was thoroughly clear with them before i moved in that i needed to practice 5 hours daily. they were ready to give me the lease but i told them to take a day to consider whether they would really want this in their space because it can be loud and repetitive at times.

there is no time frame for the soundproofing. it simply states that "if necessary, the landlord shall install soundproofing." i wonder if the "if necessary" gives them a lot of discretion.

they have told me that i can practice between 8 and 2, which is ok. but it was originally 8-6 (not that i would practice that long, but to allow some flexibility in my life). the hours of 8-6 were the premise upon which i moved in - something which we had verbally agreed upon. so my point is not that i can't practice, but i'm afraid that it's so hard for them to deal with it that they will decide it's easier to kick me out than to install soundproofing.

i'm bracing for this because in my recent conversations with them, i'm getting the feeling that this is the direction they may be inclined towards.

any more feedback will be greatly appreciated, especially if somebody has some knowledge of how the law will come in to play here (i'm in nyc, by the way).

[concord]

VERBAL AGREEMENTS
Judges have the option to consider verbal testimony. However, documentary proof is much stronger. The LL can say that you told him that you only need two hours a day for practice at most just to keep your fingers loose and that on some days you wouldn’t even be practicing at all. So, the better orator gets more credibility for what ever such verbal testimony may be worth.

NECESSARY SOUNDPROOFING
The ‘if necessary’ clause doesn’t appear to be harmful to you. It implies that the LL is willing to install soundproofing at his expense if he deems it to be necessary to do so for his own comfort. The language does not imply that you are obligated to stop playing during the time that the LL is actually installing the soundproofing for his own comfort. Certainly, if he expects you to stop playing then such a prohibitive term should be explicitly explained as a matter of contractual agreement.

BUFFERING SOUND
While this site explores LL/Tenant issues I would examine the following option. Couldn’t you buffer the loudness of the sound escaping from the actual piano while playing, if you were to cover the body of the piano with a heavy blanket or two without such action having a serious compromising affect on sound quality? Sure, you will lose some of the vibrations (that normally escape the piano) but not a loss of understanding of what is going on in your piano; this application would dampen all vibrations equally I think you should experiment with this option. The LL may even be willing to lend you a bunch of blankets that he has had stored in the basement since Nixon.

COMMERCIAL SPACE
It looks like your next living space may have to be a commercial space in some dingy area where nobody will be able to hassle you about noise. Since you are not rent-stabilized anyway and you are under the constant threat of eviction this may not be a bad future option for you. I hate to recommend running away from a problem but when you are the noise maker you will have a hard time making friends with landlords (and also with many neighbors of which you are probably aware). I was that noisy guy once upon a time and my problem was solved by using electronic equipment where the volume can be adjusted. An electronic keyboard will certainly not sound as nice as a piano but the electronic solution works for a host of other instruments.