Noise Complaints (LTB)

TST-80853-17 (Re), 2017 CanLII 60769 (ON LTB)

Preliminary Matters...

At the outset of the hearing, given the multiple applications before me, I asked BLS to provide an overview of the issues advanced in the Tenants’ applications.

He provided the following summary of issues.

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5. The Tenants’ allege that the Landlords failed to address the inadequacy of the soundproofing in the residential complex (in breach of the Landlord’s obligation under s.20 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (“the Act”) (T6); as well as their noise complaints with respect to the unit below them, substantially interfering with their reasonable enjoyment of the unit for the period from November 2015 until the end of the tenancy at the end of December 2016 (T2).

112. It is well-settled law that a landlord has a duty to address disturbances to a tenant’s enjoyment of a unit caused by noise from other tenants.

113. Here, I have documented and essentially undisputed evidence that there were repeated noise complaints by the Tenants to the Landlord concerning sound from the first floor unit from November 2015 to November 2016. The Tenant from the first floor, ST, in his evidence, conceded that there were multiple noise complaints by the Tenants.

114. The Landlord’s response was essentially to telephone the first floor unit tenant(s) and ask them to keep the noise down.

115. The disturbances continued. The response by the Landlord remained the same. In these circumstances, it was inadequate.

116. As the Landlord is well aware from the decision of my colleague, Member Jean-Paul Pilon in Order TST-16760-11 issued September 11, 2011 (“the September 2011 order”) – in which she was the respondent with respect to an ongoing noise issue at the same address, a landlord has a duty to take reasonable steps to address noise complaints to “…correct the intrusion of the neighbouring tenant on the tenant’s right to quiet enjoyment” (see Hassan v. Niagara Housing Authority [2000] O.J. No. 5650 (Ont. Div. Ct). These reasonable steps included (as highlighted at para. 4 of the September 2011 order), serving upon “…the offending tenants a notice of eviction”.

123. In the context of considering the impact on the Tenants of this breach and the appropriate remedy, it seems striking to me – particularly in light of the occurrence of an incident with ST that was reported to police – that no written complaint was ever made to the Landlord (as admitted in oral evidence). While I am alive to the fact – as clarified in re-examination by BLS – that the Landlord provided no email, text or fax number to the Tenants, this level of disturbance over this period of time, ought reasonably have provoked at least one letter or posting to the Landlord (apart from the police documentation and logs that were shared with her) to emphasize the nature and extent of the incursion into their lives imposed by these noise disturbances. I find the absence of any correspondence to the Landlord regarding the noise complaints even more conspicuous in light of the fact that the Tenants have claimed that they concluded that the unit was “uninhabitable” as of early November 2016).

125. Based on my knowledge of, and experience with, similar cases and, further, given the duration and nature of the noise problem as described by the Tenants and the Landlord’s inadequate investigation and follow-up of these issues, and the lack of convincing evidence that the unit was otherwise not habitable, I am satisfied that the Tenants are entitled to an abatement of 10% of the rent ($2,300.00) for the period from November 6, 2015 to November 11, 2016 (370 days), which totals $2,797,81).

TST-72908-16 (Re), 2016 CanLII 40100 (ON LTB)

1. The Tenant’s application is based on allegations that the tenants in two other units in the residential complex have made excessive noise that has disturbed the Tenant and the Landlord has failed to address the Tenant’s complaints.

2. This is a case where a tenant is alleging that a landlord is interfering with her reasonable enjoyment by failing to address substantial interference by another tenant or tenants. To be successful in this application, the Tenant must establish that the other tenants substantially interfered with her reasonable enjoyment of the residential complex and her rental unit by making excessive noise. The Tenant must also establish that the Landlord failed to take reasonable steps to address the interference with the Tenant’s reasonable enjoyment.

13. In her e-mail of November 10, 2015, responding to the Tenant’s noise complaint of November 9, 2015, the building manager states the tenant in 1602 denies making noise and the building manager further suggests that the noise may be coming from another unit. The building manager’s e-mail to the Tenant on November 10, 2015 is perplexing and very unreasonable, given that the building manager had personally witnessed the noise coming from unit 1602 the night before and this noise had been sufficiently loud for the police to request that the building manager provide access to the unit.

15. The building manager’s responses to the Tenant’s noise complaints were insufficient and, as stated in paragraph 13, above, unreasonable. If the building manager was genuinely concerned that the Tenant was overly sensitive to noise, the building manager could have attended the rental unit when the Tenant made a noise complaint to verify the level of noise. The building manager accepted the neighbouring tenant’s denial that he made noise the day after the building manager entered the neighbouring tenant’s unit to find him passed out with music blaring. Under these circumstances, the building manager ought to have, at the very least, issued a warning letter to the tenant at 1602 but instead she suggested that the noise may have been coming from another unit.

18. After considering the duration of this problem and the impact on the Tenants’ enjoyment and use of the rental unit, I find that the Tenant is entitled to a rent abatement of $500.00. I have taken into account the number of incidents for each of the months of November 2015 to April 2016. I have also taken into account the degree of disturbance for each incident (some went on all night).