Re: When tenants don't get along - Landlord Forum thread 330435

Re: When tenants don't get along by MrDan (Georgia) on January 29, 2015 @21:28

The landlord has a duty to allow tenants the right to "quiet enjoyment" of the premises they rent. This means not just disturbing the tenant him/herself, but also not allowing other people under the landlord's control, such as other tenants, to disturb or harass. The landlord has a legal obligation to intervene when one tenant is harassing or disturbing the other, and if necessary, a harassed tenant could sue the landlord both to force him/her to take action (up to evicting the other tenant), as well as possibly for monetary damages.

From the list that tenant (A) provided the landlord, it matches the definition of a 'stalker'. It also shows the grounds that the covenant of quiet enjoyment has itself been breached.

United States Code Title 18 Subsection 1514(c) 1. Harassment is defined as "a course of conduct directed at a specific person that causes substantial emotional distress in such a person and serves no legitimate purpose".

It is important that your lease agreement include a clause about acceptable behavior. It should specifically state that abusive behavior, intimidation, and sexual harassment are not tolerable and are grounds for eviction.

What to do: If a tenant is being harassed, the tenant is not being afforded quiet enjoyment of their premises and is being discriminated against in violation of fair housing laws. Once the landlord becomes aware of the harassment, the landlord must make a “reasonable response” calculated to stop the harassment. The landlords first step should include investigating the matter, and, if warranted, issuing a warning to the tenant engaging in offensive behavior. If the harassment continues, the landlord should consider pursuing injunctive relief to enjoin the behavior, or commencing eviction proceedings against the harassing tenant.

Fair Housing: It’s the Law: The landlord must take reasonable affirmative steps to end the offensive behavior when one tenant is harassing another tenant, which should include an investigation and warning to the offending tenant.

When a landlord knows of, but fails to address, a hostile environment, “the combined knowledge and inaction may be seen as demonstrable negligence, or as the landlord's adoption of the offending conduct and its results, quite as if they had been authorized affirmatively as the landlord’s policy."(Federal Court Registry)

Federal courts recognize a hostile-housing-environment cause of action under the analogous federal Fair Housing Act (FHA)(HUD).

Some landlords do win against a harassment claim and then loose due to a claim of retaliation.

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