Tenant Nuisance Noise

Homeowner complaint regarding next door neighbor and excessive nuisance noise coming through walls. Apparently, this has been going on for some time, but only recently has this homeowner brought the complaint to the Board. Initially the owner was receptive to allowing Board members (no paid manager here) to verify noise (one time), but now is continuing to report noise complaints, but denying Board member verification.

The complaint is against the next door neighbor, which is a tenant occupied unit. Tenant's mother owns the unit.

My question is: Is the Board justified in furthering a complaint against the owner based only on homeowner complaint without secondary verification?

Offending homeowner was mailed initial letter regarding noise and a second letter after verified noise by two Board members. Second letter also defined fine policy. We are now sending the homeowner a 10 day letter to attend an Executive Session regarding complaint and potential levying of fines.

I've read many posts regarding this issue, but have seen nothing on secondary verification regarding complaints such as this one. There is concern regarding "he said, she said" should this wind up in a court of law.

Linda,

What was the excessive noise (if you don't mind me asking)?

Was it loud enough to have police involved or simply an annoyance to this one individual?
Are there personality conflicts involved between the two?

Our policy is that the Association won't get involved in such situations unless we receive complaints from two different lots/units. This keeps the Association out of personality conflicts and, as Glen pointed out, something that is simply different then it was before.

You may want to provide the individual complaining with some literature on how to sound proof their own unit in order to minimize the noise issue.

Linda,

Don't overstep your authority. That's my only word of caution regarding any actions the board, or you individually, choose to take.

Linda, since you have a nuisance clause in your CC&Rs (right??) and the 2nd complaint was verified, I believe you can call the Owner to a hearing and fine them for the violations. At that meeting, you directors need to decide what further steps will be taken, if any, if the complainer will not let any of you into her unit yet insists the violations have continued.

But I'd take no further action unless a board member confirms future noise. The Board should vote on this in your ex. sess. meeting and someone should write the complainer a letter advising her of your decision.

(We did have an owner who called security frequently complaining of noise. A few times over several months, it was corroborated by staff, but never from the same unit. Usually it was not confirmed. One time it was a Mardi Gras party a block away. Once when an officer when to the lady's floor to investigate, she was in her hallway with a stethoscope against the wall trying to find the noise. She was institutionalized after several months by her family.)

Our HOA also is a multi-unit condo building but I have to say that we only have upstairs or outside (balcony partiers) complaints, never an attached unit next door. How old is your building? What is the construction?

Noise nuisance is probably our most common complaint, but we don't even send a courtesy letter, let alone send a call to hearing notice, unless the noise is corroborated by a staff or board member. Two neighbors aren't acceptable as each may have some sort of personal grudge against the alleged culprit.

Our HOA does have rules requiring that big speakers be elevated off the floor to keep noise from music at a minimum, but we've never had to enforce it as loud music isn't an issue here.

Perhaps your HOA wants to consider such a rule. I guess I'm surprised the hour of exercise, or whatever, doesn't bother the neighbor below the alleged violator, or does no one live below them?

If you're in luck, the fine will encourage the Owner to tell their tenant to be quieter.

Otherwise, I think you're right: "... there is nothing we can do ... other than instructing her to pursue legal action against the other homeowner or contact law enforcement." While very rare, when we have party-noise nuisances at night, and the partiers refuse to quiet down when asked by our security staff, the complainers are advised by our staff to call the police.

If the other directors refuse to enforce your nuisance/noise CC&R clause by going into the unit and listening when the noise occurs when they're invited, I don't know what could happen next. I suppose the Owner could threaten to sue your HOA for failure to enforce your CC&Rs. But would she actually go that far? And wouldn't a court ask why didn't she call the police?

There's been many a discussion about this topic on this forum. My opinion, and I'm not alone, is: since the Board, via a couple of directors has confirmed the violation, there is no need to get the complainer physically involved. Now, the owner of the alleged violators might be able to guess who it is, but that does'nt matter the way I see it.

If the complainer says the noises won't stop and takes the issue to court, if at all possible, then she'd need to testify.