What if Your Tenants are Causing a Disturbance?
If your tenants are causing a disturbance, you should respond appropriately so other renters do not become angry and so you do not have to deal with continued complaints from other tenants. A Philadelphia landlord lawyer can help you to respond when a tenant causes some type of disturbance in an apartment complex that you own or operate.
Curley & Rothman, LLC has provided assistance to many landlords who have problem tenants. Our legal team also provides help to tenants involved in landlord / tenant disputes. To find out more about the ways in which a Philadelphia landlord lawyer offers help when problems arise in the landlord / tenant relationship, give us a call.
What Can You Do If Your Tenants are Causing a Disturbance?
If your tenants are causing a disturbance, you need to take action because your other tenants could become angry, could complain regularly to you, or could even potentially have grounds for breaking a lease if the tenant who is causing the problems is making the property unsafe or uninhabitable.
You will need to determine exactly what your tenant is doing that is causing the disturbance and must make an assessment of whether any complaints made against a tenant are legitimate ones or not. If a tenant is legitimately doing something that interferes with the ability of other residents to live comfortably in their own homes or to use common spaces safely, you should pursue an appropriate course of action to resolve the issue with the tenant causing the problem.
Your appropriate course of action is going to vary depending upon the nature of the disturbance that your tenants are causing and depending upon whether the tenant will respond and correct the behavior.
If the tenant is doing something dangerous or breaking the law, such as selling drugs out of the apartment or allowing a dangerous dog to run lose, you should strongly consider involving law enforcement to protect your other tenants and to protect yourself from potential liability.
If the tenant is doing something legal but in violation of the lease, or in violation of the other residents’ right of quiet enjoyment, you can document the problems and address them directly with the tenant. You can talk with the tenant but should generally send a written notice of the violation in case the tenant continues to cause a disturbance.
If you decide that you must evict the tenant for continually causing a disturbance after initial warnings that you issue, you will want to have proof that the problem has been an ongoing one and that you have made an effort to address the issue. The more proof you have that the tenant has violated the lease or continues to interfere with the rights of other tenants, the easier it will be for you to successfully get an order of eviction.
Evicting a Tenant
Evicting a tenant may be a last resort if your tenant is causing a disturbance. If you decide that eviction is an appropriate course of action in light of the fact that the tenant is causing problems, you will need to provide appropriate notice of the eviction. Your written lease may specify the amount of notice that you must provide to a tenant before evicting the tenant. According to the Reading PA Guide to Eviction, the default required notice is 30 days if the eviction is based on breaching the lease.
You will need to file a complaint in District Justice Court to evict a tenant, and a hearing will be scheduled. If the tenant comes to the hearing and disputes the allegations that the tenant has caused a disturbance, you will need to be prepared to demonstrate that the tenant is violating the lease agreement by causing problems in the apartment.
If there is not a specific provision in your lease that is being violated but the tenant is still causing a disturbance, a landlord could potentially still take action to evict the tenant if the tenant is interfering with the quiet enjoyment of other tenants or if the tenant is violating the law. A Philadelphia landlord lawyer can provide you with assistance determining if you have grounds for evicting a tenant when a tenant is causing a disturbance to occur.
Getting Help from A Philadelphia Landlord Lawyer
Curley & Rothman, LLC can provide you with the help that you need to follow proper protocols if your tenants are causing a disturbance. We also provide assistance to both landlords and tenants who are coping with a wide variety of other landlord/ tenant issues. Give us a call at 610-834-8819 or contact us to find out more about the ways in which our legal team can help you.