Are You Liable If Your Tenant’s Neighbor Is Causing a Nuisance?

It is your duty to ensure that tenants have a rental unit free from disturbances. In extreme cases, you should take steps to evict annoying tenants to abate a nuisance.

A continuous disturbance caused by things such as excessive noise or other tenants’ smoking in the building may be so significant that it interferes with a tenant’s quiet enjoyment. Although the nuisance may be caused by another tenant in the building and not by you, you may be held accountable if you take no action against the offending tenant after being notified of the disturbance.

A tenant may want to stay in their unit and sue you for breach of quiet enjoyment. Sometimes, when a nuisance is so substantial that it causes the tenant to move out of the apartment, the tenant may file a lawsuit against you for constructive eviction.