[cori]

Hi,

I'm live in Missouri & recently rented an apartment for my daughter & I. From the first day that we moved into this apartment, the tenants residing above me & their 2 children made so much noise on a daily basis, that even trying to sleep was impossible. They would blast their stereo & surround sound TV at all hours of the day & night sometimes as early in the morning as 2 & 3am. Their children were allowed to stay up very late & run through the apartment at all hours slamming doors, jumping up & down on the floor, throwing things on the floor, yelling & screaming & bouncing balls continually. The parents would argue very loudly & scream at their children all the time. This constant, loud, disruptive behavior is a violation of my lease, but complaining about it to the management company never got me anywhere. I was told that a letter was sent to the tenants & that they were talked to about keeping the noise down.

These same tenants also own an aggressive breed dog (Doberman Pinscher) which is also a violation of my lease & not allowed on the premises according to my lease. Management is aware of this dog residing with the tenants. This dog has been allowed to roam freely on occasion, unattended through the building that I live in & is always taken outside without a leash by the tenants which is also a violation of my lease. My daughter was going to the basement to get our laundry one day, when this dog came from the upstairs apartment down to the floor that we live on & started barking at her. She had a washbasket with her that she held in front of her because she didn't know if the dog would bite her or not. The owner never even bothered to come downstairs to see what the dog was barking at & just yelled from upstairs for the dog to come back to the apartment. I reported this incident to the property manager, but nothing was ever done. The dog continued to be taken outside without a leash on. I have 2 very small yorkies (5lbs each) that I always worry about with this dog running loose. He could easily kill either of them with one bite.

Management did nothing to make our stay at these apartments livable. These tenants just ended up retaliating against me by making even more noise. They would stomp across the floor with every step they took & purposely be as loud as they could. It finally became so bad that my lack of sleep was affecting my ability to function at work. I was always falling asleep trying to do my job. Just recently, one evening my daughter was so upset after trying to study for her school finals, that I called the office with my last complaint. Since it was after hours, I left a message telling them that I had had enough & since they refused to take any action against these tenants to stop the noise & also the Doberman running around unleashed, I was moving as soon as I could find another place to live. A few days later, I received a letter from management stating that I will owe them $2,550 if I break my lease.

Well, I did break my lease & just moved last week. They are holding a $1,500 deposit of mine. Can I sue them for their breach of my rental agreement, because of the constant noise & disruptiveness from these tenants that my daughter & I have had to deal with, for allowing an aggressive breed dog to reside in the building & for allowing this animal to be unattended & unleashed on the premises? These are all violations of my lease, but management says I still owe them $2,550 to get out of a lease that I did not want to break. I have documented every time any incidents occurred & every time that I called the office after hours to complain. Will it be too costly for me to hire an attorney to try to get my deposit back? Or would small claims court possibly be an option? I would appreciate any advice that anyone could give me. Thanks much.

[ScottGem]

Small Claims court is your option. If you can document the complaints, then you have a good chance of getting out of the lease. The problem is you really have to document. Just a record of complaint may not be enough. You might have to prove that the disturbances were sufficient to be a nuisance. As for the pet issue, what is in your lease may not be in theirs. Maybe their dog was obtained prior to a change in the lease and grandfathered in. So you don't know if the dog violated their lease. Doesn't matter if it violated yours.

Frankly, I would let the deposit go and let them sue you for the $2550 and then answer their suit with your reason for breaking the lease.

[s_cianci]

Small claims court will work in this case. You shouldn't need an attorney. Just make sure you've documented everything you've done to try to resolve these problems. Take all of your supporting evidence into court with you.

[Fr_Chuck]

Yes, you can sue them, you will need proof of this, other neighbors that may testify for you, video recordings, copies of the letters you sent to the management, copies of the police reports where you called the police about being disturbed and about the dog loose.