Well, after making me pay more for a parking spot for my guest because she visits more than twice a week, based upon "unwritten rules" of the apartment building, my Landlord is refusing to enforce written terms of the lease against the person who lives above me.
This person pounds the floors 22 hours a day - I do not understand how someone can go without sleep like that. She walks in HEELS all day & all night, on floors that are not carpeted. She also blasts the TV 24 hours a day. There are 2 late teen / early 20's boys that live in that apartment too (her sons, I presume - all in a 1 BR apt), and they are much quieter than their mother.
The lease requires floors to be carpeted. Lease also has standard provisions about noise & quiet enjoyment.
Neighbor ignores me when I try to ask her to be quiet.
Landlord says there is nothing they can do. When I point out the lease terms that are not being complied with, LL says - QUOTE: "YOU TENANTS! You always think the lease is for your benefit." YES - the LL actually said that!!!
I have two choices - I can withold rent & let them sue me, or I can sue them.
Unfortunately, the lease also says that if they sue me for rent, I waive my right to file a counterclaim. I did some research, and one of the local judges here actually upheld that clause & threw someone's countercalim out when they counterclaimed when this LL sued them for eviction.
So I must go to court on my own to stop this nonsense.
Unfortunately, I could go to the County/District Court, BUT the court' rules there only allow me to sue for MONEY DAMAGES - so I cannot go there for any kind of court Order. So I am stuck going to the Supreme Court. Even without hiring a lawyer, the filing fees & service fees run about $1,000. I am sure the LL knows this, so obviously his attitude is "SUE ME." Also, by the time the case would ever get heard, my lease would expire (August) and I'll be out of here anyway.
There's a major flaw in the system that allows this to happen. If I was in NYC, I'd have recourse to landlord-tenant court. But outside of NYC, that court only exists for LL's, not for tenants.
So what is a sleepless tenant to do