Tenant break lease due to poor sound insulation?

Question

If they can, should I sell my duplex. It was a house converted to a duplex, it has no sound insulation. Their seems to be no cheap way to sound proof this place.

Answer 1

Most interior walls of houses don't have any insulation at all. Sound will pass right through. It is relatively cheap to insulate the walls with expanding foam insulation. Purchase it for less than $5 per can at any hardware store. It takes 1 1/2 cans to fill a 16 inch wide void from ceiling to floor.



Just drill a pencil sized hole in the wall ever 16 inches near the ceiling. Insert the straw that comes with the can and empty the can into the wall. Wait 24 hrs. trim off any foam coming out of the pencil hole, cover the hole with sheet rock compound or spackle and touch up the paint.



A 12 ft. wall would cost you less than $70 to insulate. Cheap investment for happy tenants.

Answer 2

A tenant cannot break a lease due to poor sound insulation unless it is truly extreme. If they can hear someone drop something, it's bad. If they can hear the tv or music, that is normal. There are inexpensive ways to sound proof though. Simple insulation provides a pretty repsectable barrier for soundwaves.



I would find out what they are hearing. There may be a huge problem with soundproofing. Or the problem could be the tenant on the other side is just inconsiderate, playing music loudly or watching TV loudly at all hours of the night, etc.

Answer 3

Nope- they are required to provide heat, it is not required to be affordable. You cannot break it due to poor insulation- that is common in old houses and is a very costly and extensive renovation. You also cannot just break your lease for uninhabitable issues, it has to be court ordered and this is not bad enough to count as uninhabitable. If you try to break the lease for that then the court will just require them to provide space heaters for those rooms.

Answer 4

Yes, they can because it is not up to code. If it were up to code, the sound insulation wouldn't be poor.



However, if you are in CA, you need to check with authorities there. My sister lived in a triplex in Santa Monica and poor sound insulation generally doesn't let you get out of the lease because nothing is insulated. However, a judge gave my sister a break. We played a video tape of us eating a meal in the dining room and you could CLEARLY hear the sound of the couple next door having sex. She was able to break her lease and get her deposit back. Lots of laughter, lots of red faces.

Answer 5

You would want to let them go... why make them and your life miserable... just sound proof --- or let them now that sound is heard from other tenant.

have them call the police on other tenant to keep it down... I am not sure how loud this noise is, are you?

check with a decibel meter.

kai

Answer 6

I agree with steve. get a lawyer.

Answer 7

get a lawyer