A long-standing sensitive subject, the issue of noise between neighbors has continued to escalate since the health crisis. And sometimes, especially in apartments, the occupants come to experience a real ordeal. This is the case of this case mentioned by The Dauphine where a Valence tenant, Jonathan Herbaut, says he spent two years without a full night because of particularly noisy neighbors. He ended up buying an extra mattress so he could spend some nights in his car.
The troublemakers, a family living above their apartment, are however targeted by an eviction procedure and have had to leave the premises since 2019. It is a mutual aid ociation which manages the accommodation concerned and which asked without success at these tenants too loud to leave. It was then necessary to wait for the ociation (the only tenant of the premises) to be evicted in order to be able to apply the expulsion of the family. And between the ineffective intervention of the bailiffs, the winter break and the length of the procedures, the eviction is expected for July, according to The Dauphine.
Ensuring “peaceful enjoyment”
And if Jonathan Herbaut refuses to leave the premises, it is because he considers that it is not up to him to do so and, above all, in this period of rising rents, his meager financial means would not allow him to find another accommodation within his budget. He rightly points out that the lease commits the occupants to guarantee “peaceful enjoyment” of the accommodation and that he could claim financial compensation when he has so far only been entitled to an increase in rent.
A recent decision commented on his blog by lawyer specializing in real estate law Me Gabriel Neu-Janicki proves him right. The Montpellier Court of Appeal has just sentenced a landlord last March to pay 4,800 euros in damages to a neighbor for the nuisance caused by his tenant. (see decision below). It had been demonstrated that the lessor was aware of the neighborhood disturbances caused by his tenant and he contented himself with giving him leave. In this specific case, the lease would not be renewed beyond its anniversary date, which fell two years later. The judges considered that the owner should have immediately launched a procedure to terminate the lease, and since this was not done, he must compensate the damage suffered by the neighbor for two years.