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Last Friday, I received a phone call at work from my daughter’s therapist saying I need to meet her at the hospital. My wife collapsed while they were out and was taken by the ambulance. When I got to the hospital, I was informed that my wife just had a miscarriage. She was 5 weeks pregnant (we had no idea) and the doctor asked me if my wife has been suffering from extreme stress lately. Honestly, I’m not at home as much due to the nature of my job where I usually have to work doubles at least 4 times a week and Lily (my wife) never conveyed anything out of the ordinary.
Lily (I’m convinced she’s actually Supergirl) runs her family’s business from home because we have 2 children in the Autism Spectrum. Our 8 year old son goes to a specialized school and while I take him in the morning after I come home from work, she picks him up in the afternoon. He receives 15 hours of therapy at home. Our 2 year old daughter also receives about 37 hours of therapy at home. My wife also manages to take the kids to their extracurricular activities and give them as normal of a childhood as possible. To say my wife is living a stressful life is an understatement but it’s nothing out of the ordinary. My in laws and I decided that she stay with them for a few days and give her a break.
While I was making lunch for my daughter yesterday, the landlady (who lives above us) knocked on the door and basically told me the following:
1. My daughter running up and down the hallway is disrupting her work (she also works from home). Apparently, her apartment shakes all the way up to the third floor.
2. My daughter wakes them up in the middle of the night and it’s affecting their health.
3. When we cook, they can’t get the smell out of their apartment.
Apparently, she tells my wife this constantly and nothing is being done about it. When I asked the therapist (who works with my daughter for 6 hours a day) and was with my wife when she collapsed about what is really going on, she told me the following:
1. Lily had to smooth things out with the other therapists after most of them threatened to quit because they can’t do their jobs properly. The landlady rings the bell constantly and it disrupts my daughter’s concentration.
2. My daughter’s nap time keeps getting interrupted since the landlady either keeps moving the furniture or running the vacuum. Lily had to adjust everyone’s schedule so she can take our daughter out for a walk to put her to sleep in the dead of winter.
3. Carmen (the therapist) said she once went out with Lily and M (our daughter) to Home Depot to buy rug pads because the landlady said our current rugs doesn’t muffle the sounds of M running. Lily spent hundreds of dollars outfitting every room in the house with new rugs and pads. (I didn’t really think anything about it because Lily likes to decorate).
4. Carmen said 3 physical therapists have quit because they refuse to have their sessions in the park during the winter. One specific therapist quit because he overheard the landlady told Lily that maybe the therapist should try a different method of teaching M how to catch a ball so it won’t make noise when she can’t catch it. Lily had to ask the service coordinator to find a sensory gym who will take M’s case. Carmen also said that she heard the landlady complain about the room above M’s room shaking when she has her PT sessions even after Lily put down rug pads, foam mats and rugs.
5. According to our lease, we have use of the laundry room in the basement. The landlady informed Lily last week that her sister in law is getting divorced and is going be staying in the basement until she can find her own place. Lily now has to do laundry at the laundromat daily. I assumed the laundromat charges on our credit card is for dry cleaning.
6. Two weeks ago, Carmen, Lily, M and I (our son) went ice skating. While parking the car in front of the townhouse, the landlady came out and confronted Lily about her house still smelling from the last time Lily cooked dinner (the night before). Carmen said she was there when Lily was cooking and Lily asked her to put on M’s jacket because she has to open the kitchen windows to air out the house while she’s cooking.
I know I’m not around much but I’m extremely upset that my wife felt the need to keep me in the dark but I didn’t know it was this bad. We just signed a two year lease this past November while the house we purchased is going through a gut renovation. I’m wondering if she’s trying to make it unbearable so that we would just leave and break our lease. I’m also starting to wonder if the stress of this whole situation caused Lily to miscarry. Does this qualify as harassment?
I'm convinced that these types of landlords, who live on the premises and make unreasonable requests for their tenants, are simply landlords in the first place because they cant cover their bills. So that makes them unreasonable, because they're having problems paying their own bills to begin with.
Move as fast as you can, sorry.
As far as harassment, you can sue anybody for anything. Make a case, and document everything, and talk to a lawyer and see what happens. At this point what do you have to lose.
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
The situation has actually escalated since I wrote this post:
My wife called earlier saying she received a text from the landlady and she forwarded it to me:
Hi Lily- I am very sorry but I have to ask you to move out. In the last 2 weeks (including this morning) you guys woke us up 5 times before 5 am. This includes 3 am, 2 am, 4 am time frames. I can't function like that and this is not changing much since you moved in. I am really exhausted.
They can't just ask you to move out. There's a lease. That's what a lease is for -- so they can't just ask you to move out, and likewise, you couldn't just up and move without being on the hook financially for the rest of the lease term. If they want you to move, they have to pay you to move out.
If I were you, I would figure out how much a move will cost you (actual moving costs like hiring a mover, but also time involved in packing up and locating a new place, and setting up a new household like buying new curtains for windows, etc.) and then add whatever else on top for their request to break the lease. Otherwise they will just have to suffer through two more years of sleepless nights.
I do sympathize with them a bit because noise bothers me a lot, however, they have been over the top with their complaints about food smells, and it was not right (and probably not legal) to put usage of a laundry room in the lease and then deny you the right to use it.
They can't just ask you to move out. There's a lease. That's what a lease is for -- so they can't just ask you to move out, and likewise, you couldn't just up and move without being on the hook financially for the rest of the lease term. If they want you to move, they have to pay you to move out.
If I were you, I would figure out how much a move will cost you (actual moving costs like hiring a mover, but also time involved in packing up and locating a new place, and setting up a new household like buying new curtains for windows, etc.) and then add whatever else on top for their request to break the lease. Otherwise they will just have to suffer through two more years of sleepless nights.
I do sympathize with them a bit because noise bothers me a lot, however, they have been over the top with their complaints about food smells, and it was not right (and probably not legal) to put usage of a laundry room in the lease and then deny you the right to use it.
So make them pay.
I concur. Moving, especially with kids, is a major pain and very stressful. And the whole food smell thing is absolutely ridiculous. Food smells when you cook it. It’s not like you are pickling sauerkraut. Only in New York.
With a two year lease you can ignore the landlady (as much as possible) without worry about consequences.
Keep the written request that you move out just in case your gut reno is done early and then you can move out without breaking your lease.
Your daughter should not be running up and down the hallway if that hallway is outside your apartment.
You do NOT want to sue for harassment, you do not have much of a case and lawyers are pricey.
If you are confronted about food smells simply say "Perhaps you should have a specialist look at the ventilation system in the building. If they are dysfunctional, maybe they need extensive repair or replacement?" <That usually shuts a landlord up.>
I agree with one of the posters above. I'd haft heartedly start looking to see what else is out there. Then add up the cost of moving and demand the landlord pays for it since they are breaking your lease.
My friend lived in an apt in the owners house. It got sold and the owner wanted them out in a month. They has a good relationship with the landlord and were honest and said we really can't afford to be moving right now so the owner understood and paid the broker fee and let them stay the last month for free.
A question not addressed yet:
Cillian, Is your apartment rent stabilized or rent controlled at a much lower than market rent. If it's at market, then look for another place. If it is at a considerable discount to market, stay put and fight any eviction..
The landlady informed Lily last week that her sister in law is getting divorced and is going be staying in the basement until she can find her own place.
That is an illegal occupancy and might warrant a call to DHCR.
Like your friend, perhaps you should try to negotiate a settlement with your landlord. You have several good cards to play. (My guess is that she wants your apartment for her SIL.)
Last edited by Kefir King; 02-09-2018 at 07:35 AM..
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