Insane woman downstairs...can I get out of my lease??? Help!

try talking to the other tenants and find out if this is an on going problem, which may have been the reason the previous tenant left and if so ,don't pay the next months rent and leave

I once had a crazy neighbor that lived above me who would pound around until three in the morning every night. She was a crazy drunk bitch but I learned to put up with it until one morning I woke up to a note on my door from her complaining about hearing me having sex with my girlfriend and that she must be “faking it” because she was so loud. I went up there and laid into her and that started a real ugly period in both of our lives. I finally moved but I swear if I ever see her again I’m going to break her ankles.

My advice would tell your LL that you can’t put up with this anymore and that if he doesn’t do something about it you’re moving out. Because I don’t think it will ever get better for you. It’s too long of a process to kick a tenant out in New York. My last LL tried to do it to this fat dominatrix that lived in the same building. She was friends with the “pounder” above me…what a pair. Before you get excited understand that this particular dominatrix looked like a white Shrek and you’d here her whipping skinny losers at night. It took over a year for my LL to get rid of her- the whole time she wasn’t even paying rent. Yes, she also complained about my loud sex (the fuckin’ hypocrisy).

I wish I could think of a way you could warn future tenants about the hell they’re in for…any ideas Brooklynians? Before you leave you could drop some raw chicken into her apartment walls…these old buildings have lots of old spaces you can access from your place. In a couple of weeks she’ll go even more batshit insane trying to find out where the smell is coming from.

pastoralia wrote: I wish I could think of a way you could warn future tenants about the hell they’re in for…any ideas Brooklynians?

There is this site

http://www.de.rottenneighbor.com/

Someone posted a link several months ago about a randomized beeping thingie that would drive her over the edge....mybe she'd get herself committed.

Who's got that link?

I think that by telling the landlord you want out as of 3/15 you've kind of let them (the LL) off easily. It is up to the landlord to supply you with a habitable apartment, that is their part of the lease (you pay the money, they give you an apartment you can live in). By allowing a crazy neighbor to harass you, the landlord is allowing a nuisance condition. I have been through a very similar situation -- tenant below me made my life (and obviously others in the building) hell, and they got evicted. Not me. Why should I (or you) have to move? If you are genuinely not creating the situation, then it's the other tenant who should have to put up or get out.

If you DO end up moving out, the very least you should do is post the address and apartment number here, and on craigslist, along with your story. Warn other potential renters what they may be up against.

re: the beeping thing: look for it on thinkgeek.com....oh it's evil, trust me.

edit: don't NOT pay rent until you have exhausted all other options...so far you've done nothing wrong. Not paying rent potentially IS doing something wrong, legally. It is the nuclear bomb in tenant vs landlord relations. Its not an option to be used lightly.

Whatchuwant wrote: [quote=raw]"No landlord, or any party acting on the landlord’s behalf, may interfere with the tenant’s privacy, comfort, or quiet enjoyment of the apartment. Harassment may take the form of physical or verbal abuse, willful denial of services, or multiple instances of frivolous litigation."

Crazy lady isn't the landlord, nor is she acting on behalf of the landlord, so.....this quote means nothing in regards to this situation.

Exactly, there is nothing in a residential lease that says you cannot act in a criminal manner. If that was the case you could be evicted for smoking weed or downloading free music.

"pastoralia" wrote:
My last LL tried to do it to this fat dominatrix that lived in the same building. She was friends with the “pounder” above me…what a pair. Before you get excited understand that this particular dominatrix looked like a white Shrek and you’d here her whipping skinny losers at night. It took over a year for my LL to get rid of her- the whole time she wasn’t even paying rent. Yes, she also complained about my loud sex (the fuckin’ hypocrisy).

I'm scared of where you live.

The apartment itself was great but my neighbors and the neighborhood made it really sucky. It was deep south Slope and the kind of place where strangers would hang out on your stoop smoking and yelling into their two-way pagers and people would wash their cars on the street blasting their music.

pastoralia wrote: [quote=Anastasia Beaverhausen][quote=pastoralia]
My last LL tried to do it to this fat dominatrix that lived in the same building. She was friends with the “pounder” above me…what a pair. Before you get excited understand that this particular dominatrix looked like a white Shrek and you’d here her whipping skinny losers at night. It took over a year for my LL to get rid of her- the whole time she wasn’t even paying rent. Yes, she also complained about my loud sex (the fuckin’ hypocrisy).

I'm scared of where you live.

The apartment itself was great but my neighbors and the neighborhood made it really sucky. It was deep south Slope and the kind of place where strangers would hang out on your stoop smoking and yelling into their two-way pagers and people would wash their cars on the street blasting their music.

um...that's like my neighborhood now!

The apartment itself was great but my neighbors and the neighborhood made it really sucky. It was deep south Slope and the kind of place where strangers would hang out on your stoop smoking and yelling into their two-way pagers and people would wash their cars on the street blasting their music.

You mean Brooklyn?

japes317 wrote: [quote=OpossumQueen]I can understand moving if the apartment isn't one that you really love. Getting the other tenant out could take a lot of work and a lot of psychological stress that just moving (at a time when you choose) may cause.

It's easy to say "do whatever it takes to get them out" when someone else has to do the work, but if japes happens to have lots of other stuff going on in life, just moving might be easier if not the way that is "right".

Those situations suck and I hope it works out, whatever you decide to do, Japes.

Exactly - I work in a high-stress job that keeps me very busy. My fiance works even more than I do, and I would say I work an average of 60 hours a week. We just don't have the time or energy to deal with this anymore - we just want OUT. Coming home to a stressful environment just does not work for us. Coupled with my job, this whole situation is causing me so much anxiety that I feel like I need to go on medication!

If your health is at risk, move out ASAP. Screw the land lord, but be sure to warn others about this landlord and apartment building.