Largo, Fl.

There is a very annoying knocking sound coming from my AC unit. It is so annoying that it drowns out the television and disrupts my rest as well as my daughters rest. They had someone come look at it and he stated that a drain needed to be put into the unit below me.

I have addressed this issue with the property manager as well as my landlord and I have not received any resolution.

Do I have grounds to send a 30 day notice to vacate? I feel as though I have been asking for over 2 weeks and no one has done anything so the best thing is for me to leave.

Any advice will help.

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Originally Posted by rradams65

Largo, Fl.

There is a very annoying knocking sound coming from my AC unit. It is so annoying that it drowns out the television and disrupts my rest as well as my daughters rest. They had someone come look at it and he stated that a drain needed to be put into the unit below me.

I have addressed this issue with the property manager as well as my landlord and I have not received any resolution.

Do I have grounds to send a 30 day notice to vacate? I feel as though I have been asking for over 2 weeks and no one has done anything so the best thing is for me to leave.

Any advice will help.

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Have you notified them in writing that the problem needs to be corrected? I'd back up your claim with any evidence you can gather.

If nothing is done within a certain number of days, then I'd give notice that you are vacating, breaking your lease. I would, however, be prepared to fight when they attempt to collect the balance on your lease. I just realized you're in Florida - Florida is tough. If you leave without cause (and that's for the Court to decide) the landlord does NOT have to find another tenant to replace you and can simply continue to charge you monthly until the lease expires.

To a certain extent the apartment has to be livable. Question is whether the loud unit makes it unlivable.

Keep asking and send your request by certified return receipt mail. That usually gets their attention. It depends on how much longer you have on your lease also. If your lease is almost up and you want to move anyway, then you can send them the 30 notice that you will leave and not renew the lease. If you have a lot of lease left to go, they just might decide to take you to court for the remaining money for the lease. I'd try the letter by certified mail return receipt first. Be sure to take the letter to the post office and get your white receipt stamped with the post office seal when you are sending it. Also, you will receive a green post card showing that the letter had been received. Keep both as you might need them in court to prove that you have asked for the repair to be made as this noise is too loud for you and your family to get proper rest at night.

These types of issues are tricky because there's no clear-cut "right" answer.

Has anyone other than the AC repairman heard the noise? I would (in addition to sending the letter - that's excellent advice - you'll need that as proof that you tried to get resolution if they come after you) get someone from the office to come to your unit to hear the noise first hand. It may not be a bad idea to make some type of recording of the noise, too.

If you do break your lease you'll have to have proof to show that you attempted to get resolution to the problem (phone calls usually don't cut it, and only 1 letter probably won't either), and you'll need proof of the extent of the problem.

Have you checked with the tenant below you to see if they can hear it, too? The 2 of you together may get better results than just one of you.