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my rights to peace and quiet?

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my rights to peace and quiet?

Postby karmakat » Sun Jul 28, 2002 5:43 pm

I have lived on the first floor in a 2 family house for 5 1/2 years. About 3 years ago, a woman rented the upstairs from the landlord. Well, her live in scum of a boyfriend appeared one day later, and that was the first of a hundred times I have called the police on them.....because there was stuff being thrown, and so much violent yelling I thought somebody was going to get killed. The first Thanksgiving morning they were here I was awakened at 2AM to music so loud all my windows were rattling, and they refused to turn it down, so I called the police, who actually had to ARGUE with these "people" that this was not OK.

Well, this is how the last 3 years have been. They are constantly drunk (she is in and out of rehab, and he's always waiting for her to return with a bottle), and he is violent and angry. Actually I was awakened today at 6am to a party going on up there, which very soon will turn into screaming and throwing stuff. His vocabulary is extremely limited, every other word begins with "F". He stomps on the floor a lot and is like a heard of elephants going up and down the stairs, slamming doors, just a bundle of rage.

The police come, and the scum say everything is fine, and the police go away. My landlord has put the situation on ME, telling me to get police reports of formal complaints, and the police say they aren't doing anything I can make a formal complaint about and that I should talk to the landlord.

The LANDLORD has called the police on them several times himself, and the police have said that as long as they are in their apartment, they cannot take a formal complaint. He has promised me many times he wants to get rid of them. But he never will because he does not believe he has a legal right to evict them ("they pay their rent"), and he can't afford it either. I've suggested he kick them out when the lease is up for renewal, or raise their rent high enough that they won't want or be able to pay, but he won't do it because he needs their rent money.

It's not healthy for me to be around all this anger, and I know it. I find myself waiting longer and longer to call the police, actually HOPING somebody will get hurt up there, because then somebody would be going to jail (where they both have been before). The woman can barely get up and down the stairs, falls all the time, and I actually am hoping she'll break a hip or something because then they would HAVE to move. Not only than, their carelessness has resulted in water leaks in my apartment several times, the last time close enough to my computer stuff (just inches away) that I had to move it all and rearrange the entire room out of fear of damage. My landlord helped me move the crap.

I cannot afford to move, nor do I want to be forced out of my home by this scum (I am stubborn). I have 4 cats and wrecked credit which makes renting extremely difficult, and nobody to help me move even if I could find and afford a place to go. Please don't tell me to just move. It is very important to me to get control of the situation and not feel like a victim, to not have to concede that their rights are more important than mine.

They do go through periods where they are more "human" , sometimes they are even quiet for 3 or 4 weeks at a time, otherwise I would be in jail for manslaughter by now I am sure. But when the public assistance checks they live on arrive and they have money for alcohol, it starts all over again.

Does anybody know what I can do to force my landlord to get rid of them? Surely a tenant must have SOME rights to peace and quiet.

karmakat
karmakat
 
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Joined: Sun Jul 28, 2002 1:01 am
Location: Schenectady

Re: my rights to peace and quiet?

Postby Brooklyn Babe » Mon Jul 29, 2002 1:34 am

"It is very important to me to get control of the situation and not feel like a victim, to not have to concede that their rights are more important than mine."
Then take the work out of your LL's hands. Make things so easy for him that all he has to do is sign off.
Start the eviction proceedings (creating nuisance?). Do the research to find out how to evict them (search this site use forum archives and Housing Crt decisions). Type out the 30 day (?) notice to vacate/non renewal based on lease violations. Hire the process server. Write up the Holdover Petition. Go to court with him...
Post the available rental notices. Find the new tenants, do the credit check...
Money seems to be an issue with your LL, but he may be able to get them out for about $200.00 -maybe split the cost?
Or maybe you can wait until their current lease expires and convince your LL in exhange for the non renewal that you'll take over the process of finding new tenants.
There are 2 sides to every story and just as hard as it is for you to find housing, it will probably be even harder for them. Unfortunately, there seems to be no other resolution, except 1 of you moving, unless the scare of eviction coaxes them into be more peaceful.
The above information is from a non-attorney tenant activist and is not considered or to be used as legal advice.
Brooklyn Babe
 
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