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I am not looking for legal advice here, this is for educational purposes.

If I had to prove unreasonable interference with use and enjoyment of property in a situation where someone in my rental apartment complex who is not even a tenant is walking their dog on the third floor balcony which faces my kitchen door, allowing her dog to pee on my doors and plants and walkway and then later on having cellphone conversations in front of my kitchen door, how do I go about doing it?

An additional detail in such a case, would be that this individual is a guest of another tenant on the property.

Does pictures suffice? Video? Audio? How do you typically demonstrate that legal element?

Daniel
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  • In what jurisdiction? I think that you would tell this to the landlord and they could have them arrested for trespassing. – Ron Beyer Jul 03 '19 at 03:53
  • @RonBeyer, I added more detail, I neglected to mention the individual is a guest of another tenant. – Daniel Jul 03 '19 at 12:31

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Most often, such a thing would be demonstrated by a witness, often the plaintiff, simply testifying, describing the events. A video or pictures, identified by testimony, might help the events to be more vivid to a court. Corroborating testimony by an additional witness might also be of value.

But I suspect the major question here will not be the evidential one of "Did these events happen", but the legal question of "Did these events violate legal rights?"

Recall that "use and quiet enjoyment" is something that the landlord contracts to provide to the tenant, not a general right as against the world at large. If the landlord has failed to take sufficient steps to provide "quiet enjoyment", a tenant might have grounds of action against the landlord. Any direct action against the other tenant's guest would have to be by means of some general law, much the same as a householder taking action against a passing stranger. That would sepend on the local law, which would depend on the (unbstated) jurisdiction.

What constitutes interference with quiet enjoyment and what actions can be taken to remedy this also depends very much on the local laws. No more detailed answer can be given without knowing what country this is taking place in, and if a Federal country such as the US or Canada, what state or province. Moreover, landlord/tenant law is often truly local law, and may be different in different cities or counties. A specific location may matter.

David Siegel
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