Am I entitled to get my security deposit back, and should i contact a real estate attorney?
in november 2009, i moved into an apartment. soon after moving in (the same night, in fact), i began to experience a LOT of noise disturbance from the upstairs tenant. she had 4 pit bulls and would run them down the hallway stairs at any given time of night (sometimes 11pm, sometimes 4am) all the while shouting at them all the way down/up the stairs. she also had a tendency to play her music so loudly that i could hear the lyrics clearly (the apartment had 12′ ceilings, so you can imagine how loud that would have to be to be clearly heard while sitting on the sofa with the t.v. on). This was also often coupled with dancing/yelling/shouting. This type of noise generally began after 11pm, and might continue on and off throughout the night. for the first month, i would simply go upstairs and ask her to keep it down. she would always be polite and say she’d keep it down. sometimes she would (for a while, at least), but other times she would make more noise to spite me. after the first month of this, i quit knocking on her door at 2am to ask her to keep it down. i began calling 311 or my local police precinct directly to make a noise complaint.
on one such occasion, at the end of new year’s weekend, the sunday night before going back to work on monday morning, the noise (music and dancing/stomping) didn’t stop at all. finally, at 4am, i called the local precinct. two officers were dispatched to investigate. only moments after the officers left the building, the upstairs neighbor came downstairs and began banging on my apartment door/ringing the bell/shouting profanity. when i refused to open the door to engage her, she went back upstairs only to climb down the fire escape to continue her tirade at my bedroom window. now she added threats to the profanity (i.e. manana b*tch! we’ll settle this tomorrow, you b*tch!). she went back upstairs and began what sounded like slamming furniture forcefully down repeatedly so that it felt like a 5.5 earthquake in my apartment. at that point, i rang the landlord to apprise him of the situation and left a message. then i called the police precinct again to have the officers come back. when they came, i filled out a formal harassment complaint report. while one officer was taking down my info, the upstairs neighbor began slamming furniture again. loudly enough that the police could hear it from the hallway. one went up to speak with her while i finished giving my account of the events.
the next morning, i spoke to the landlord who told me that i was not the first person to complain about this upstairs tenant. he was pleased that i’d called the police, and asked me to write an account of the events for him. when i asked where i should send it, the landlord refused to give me a physical address and insisted that i simply leave the letter with someone at the deli/market on the first floor of the building saying that they would make sure he got it. i did as he asked, and over the course of the month left two other missives for him at the deli.
after that evening, the noise continued with added harassment. she would pause at my door on her way upstairs to shout at me directly, or just shout whatever profanities came to mind at the moment. i was afraid to call the police again for fear of retaliation: i have a cat. she has 4 pit bulls and is not afraid to climb down the fire escape to my bedroom window (which has a standard window lock, but no bars to prevent break-ins). i thought, ‘if this is what she’d do when i’m home, i don’t want to know what she might do if i was away at work.
nearing the end of the month, i rang the landlord to tell him that i was moving out. he sounded shocked and complained that i’d not given him any notice (even though i’d told him i would likely move out within the next 30 - 60 days in the first letter i’d left for him at the deli). he claimed never to have received any of my letters, and insisted that i re-print them, get them notarized, and fax them to him.
i moved out of the apartment, cleaned it, and returned the keys to the landlord on January 31st. he refused to return my deposit.
my question: isn’t the landlord guilty of non-enforcement of his own lease? i.e. the ‘no loud noise after 10pm’ clause. and also on the issue of safety and habitability? isn’t HE the one guilty of breaking the lease? am i entitled to get my deposit back on these grounds? should i contact a real estate attorney?
thanks, in advance, for any insight.
