Need to get out of lease - very noisy neighbors = no sleep! (Chicago: sublease, subletting)

[sshirley]

we just moved to chicago in october and need to get out of our lease. we had no idea a family of six would be moving in upstairs and they are up all hours of the night, which keeps us and our one year old daughter from being able to sleep through the night. we hear yelling, stomping, creaky floors [which can't be helped], heavy boot steps, what sounds like wrestling, surround sound so loud we cannot hear our own tv, etc. We have talked to the landlord and the neighbors about the noise issues, but nothing ever changes. i cannot stand that my daughter can't sleep through the night because of the disrespectful upstairs neighbors. we are stressed beyond belief. reading through our lease, i see no clause about being able to terminate the lease early. are we totally stuck???

[jdiddy]

I'd sit down with a lawyer. Knowing a few friends with tenants, its very easy to find a loophole for tenants to break a lease.

[i_am_hydrogen]

Not necessarily. Implied in every lease is a covenant of quiet enjoyment which entitles the leaseholder to be free from excessive noise and other such interferences from fellow tenants. I am an attorney, btw, but don't specialize in this area of the law, so I'd suggest contacting your local tenants' rights association for more information.

[almost3am]

I lived in an apartment a while back and my upstairs neighbor enojyed extremely loud and aggressive sex at ~2am, frequently (shaking walls and really loud moaning...waking us up). I complained to the office in letter every time, nicely, and not really blaming the woman upstairs. After about 2 months I stopped by the office in person and asked if I could break my lease and they agreed, since they couldn't seem to control my upstairs neighbors early morning escapades. Just an option you could try.

[Avengerfire]

Originally Posted by almost3am

I lived in an apartment a while back and my upstairs neighbor enojyed extremely loud and aggressive sex at ~2am, frequently (shaking walls and really loud moaning...waking us up). I complained to the office in letter every time, nicely, and not really blaming the woman upstairs. After about 2 months I stopped by the office in person and asked if I could break my lease and they agreed, since they couldn't seem to control my upstairs neighbors early morning escapades. Just an option you could try.

This must have been one of the women I have known well in the past.

[sshirley]

thanks you for all of the suggestions. we are going to look into having a lawyer look over our lease to try to terminate it legally. we have already expressed our desire to move to our landlord who replied, "well, you signed a lease so that's not going to happen". we have also asked him if we could find new tenants for him. we really don't want to leave him in the lurch, but we can't take not being able to sleep and to have our daughter not sleeping as well. any further suggestions or help in this matter will be appreciated.

[jwaiter]

What about subletting it?

[sshirley]

Originally Posted by jwaiter

What about subletting it?

yes, we have asked the landlord if we could find subletters or someone he approves of to sign a new lease. waiting to see what he says, but from his initial reaction to our conversation i think he is going to make things as difficult as possible.

[i_am_hydrogen]

Does the lease contain a clause on transferring the lease? If so, does it stipulate that the landlord must give approval to any assignment or sublease?

[ITChick]

Originally Posted by i_am_hydrogen

Does the lease contain a clause on transferring the lease? If so, does it stipulate that the landlord must give approval to any assignment or sublease?

Also, there may be an extra fee involved for Subletting. I agree to check with your local Tenant's Rights Agency (I know there's one in Chicago). They can send you a booklet with instructions on how to document the issue, send the documentation to your Landlord and exactly what your rights are.

I had neighbors in one place I lived in that came home drunk every night at 2:00 A.M. and would yell/fight with each other at that exact same time and it sounded like they were right outside my door! I stayed to the end of my lease (one year) and didn't renew, but I realize now I would've been better off having broken it at the time.