questions & answers

Question: I live in a apartment with neighbors upstairs and around me but the neighbors above me have been a problem since we moved in like banging walls stomping on the floor and I've complaint several time and have written complaints and they have retaliate and do the stomping and bang the walls much worse each time and this is being done real late hours of the night only when we are sleeping. Things seem to be escalating more and more and making our living situation unbearable. so want to know what my rights as a tenant are? thank you you can email me at [email protected]

Answer: Under the Arizona Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, tenants are required to conduct themselves and to ensure that other people on the premises with their permission conduct themselves in a manner that does not disturb their neighbors’ “peaceful enjoyment of the premises” (A.R.S. 33-1341). A tenant whose neighbor is acting in a manner that violates A.R.S. 33-1341 may wish to notify the landlord in a formal signed and dated letter identifying the problem in detail and requesting that the problem be remedied as soon as possible. If, after a reasonable time has passed, the landlord refuses to fix the problem, then the tenant’s only option may be to provide the landlord with a second letter informing the landlord that if the problem is not fixed within 10 days, then the rental agreement will terminate (A.R.S. 33-1361). (A tenant who chooses to terminate a rental agreement should be prepared for the possibility that the landlord take the tenant to court, so the problem should be both serious and documented.)