What situations can a tenant withhold rent?

Question

The situation is: filing complaints for 2 years about various noisy neighbours in my apartment building. I have extreme high blood pressure and congestion to the point of throwing up constantly. I have gone to the management, police, legal, court, and even the security guard in the building. Nothing has been done. I can't move out until I can move about again. My next choice is to withhold rent until this noise issue is solved. So my question is, can I do it? And what situations can I withhold rent? I need to find it and print it out. Canada.

I have been here for almost 9 years. I had been in the hospital, and my heart is fine. My lungs were clear and my blood tests came out negative. I have been reporting this excessive stuff for only the last 2 of 9 years. I was here first. And there is a plan to move perhaps in 2-3 years from now. I used to be out every day. Please help me with this advice.

Answer 1

You can withhold rent if the landlord does not supply the basic requirements for the apartment to be habitable. IE: Heat, electricity, water, sewer, free of vermin and structurally sound. Having a quiet apartment is not included in what he has to provide.

Now the real problem. DOCUMENTATION. If you have been doing all of your complaining verbally and not in writing, you have no documentation at all there is a problem. Just your word there is. And if you pursue the issue, people who you complained too will just say it is news to them. You need to start collecting documentation.

First, most cities do have some sort of noise ordinance. You need to check on it and see exactly what it says. If it says no obnoxious noise between 10 PM and 7 AM then you can use that. you need to supply a copy of that ordinance to the landlord and suggest he forward it to the noisy neighbors. You need to make it clear to the landlord that the apartment is going to get a lot of visits by the police if he is unwilling to deal with the problem. Too many police visits to any apartment complex gets noted and people will start feeling it is an unsafe place to be. Rents will suffer.

Second. Give him one week to deal with the problem. Then start calling the police, complain to them, insist they write a police report on it and THEN get a copy of the police report. If you do this 2-3 times, you can then go to the chief of police and/or the city council and show them that despite repeated complaints, the police are not doing their job.

Third. High blood pressure and lung congestion are signs of cardiac failure with pulmonary edema. You need to get that under control as that is a whole lot bigger problem than noisy neighbors. If you live above 4000 feet, consider moving to a lower altitude. If you weigh more than 200 pounds, consider losing weight.

Answer 2

Withholding the rent will probably get you evicted. The only legal way I am aware of is if you get an attorney and put the rent money in a "special" account that can only be accessed for rent payment after agreements have been reached by both parties. Easier to move.

Answer 3

You should stand a little further back and think about your "problem": if management, police, legal, court AND the security guard have been involved and you are still unhappy, the neighbours aren't the problem....sorry, but it MUST BE YOU!

You need to move somewhere you like!

If you withhold rent, you will end up in jail, and it can be REALLY noisy there!

Answer 4

Your landlord has the responsibility of providing you with "quiet enjoyment" of your leased premises. You have to keep complaining and document everything in writing. You will need a paper trail to prove your landlord wasn't doing his job. If you do that and then withhold rent, you will most likely prevail when your landlord attempts to evict you for non-payment. I wouldn't just withhold rent without proof, however.