In The Know - Property Management
4 September 2019
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Case Update: Troublesome neighbours
This case involved two tenants (husband and wife) and their children who were renting a unit in an apartment. They had been experiencing problems with another tenant (neighbour) who occupied the downstairs unit. Both the tenants and the neighbour were managed by the same landlord.
In May 2018, the tenants contacted the landlord informing them of the issues they were having with their neighbour's behaviour between March-May 2018. The complaints pertained to issues with noise and one comment referred to the neighbour being slumped over his computer in a ‘drunken state’ and another referred to being ‘passed out’ in his car. The email also attached text messages from May 2017 indicating that the neighbour had been smoking drugs inside the unit.
On 14 May 2018, the landlord decided to inspect the neighbour's unit and found it to be in good condition and that the neighbour’s behaviour was normal.
On 27 August 2018, the tenant texted the landlord stating that the neighbour was ‘clearly high on meth’ and that she felt unsafe. The landlord responded and stated that she would look into what she could do legally about the situation.
On 28 August 2018, the landlord received a text from another neighbour, complaining about the noise from that tenant and stated that the neighbour obviously had a drug dependence issue and that he was scary.
The landlord then decided to engage a property manager to manage the disruptive neighbour's unit. The landlord informed the property manager that there could be issues between the neighbours, however, failed to inform them of the possible drug-use of the neighbour.
The Tenancy Tribunal found that by failing to inform the property manager of the information on the drug-use, the landlord failed to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the neighbour did not interfere with the reasonable peace, comfort and privacy of the other tenants in the use of their property. By allowing illegal use of the neighbouring property, the landlord permitted an ongoing breach of the tenant’s quiet enjoyment.
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