Noisome or offensive
In the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) database, I can restrict a client’s search in regards to pets. It is easy to rule-out “yes” or “no” in the “Pets Allowed” field. One of the reasons that my clients give for not wanting to live in a condo is pets. Some don’t want them; some don’t want restrictions on them.
For my die-hard pet lovers, the “with restriction” field is the same as “no.” Why? Because the legal language of the restriction usually looks something like this: "common household pets such as cats and dogs may be kept on premises but not in such kind or number to be noisome or offensive to occupants of the units." In close quarters, loud barking or howling, threatening behavior, poor waste hygiene, or biting or scratching are not acceptable dog or cat behaviors. Anyone who has lived near animals in apartments or condos has come upon a dog or cat that is truly noisome or offensive. The problem with humans is that their definition of “noisome or offensive” is way too hard to define.
People are unhappy on both sides of the dilemma:
In a condo where cats were allowed outside unless they were noisome or offensive, a condo-owner’s cat was deemed “offensive” for approaching and rubbing up against a fellow condo owner. After that, the cat was not allowed outside (per condo rules), with the owners charged $50 each time the cat was spotted outside. They netted their patio. The cat escaped…$50. He got out the basement window…$50. He slipped out the front door when the condo-owner came in with groceries…$50. You get the picture. In the age of cell phone with cameras, this cat was photographed every time he stepped out. They moved.
A landlord approved a couple with a beagle. Nice little dog. He was friendly and seemed well behaved. However, the minute his people left, he began to whine and howl. And I mean HOWL. (Think Snoopy.) All day, starting at 7:30 AM. On weekend nights it could go on until 2:00 in the morning. Good thing they were only a summer sublet.
How do we live together? How much barking is acceptable; is a yap or two when company comes OK? How much litter box smell should you tolerate in a back hall? What about droppings in the yard? Zero tolerance?
What is noisome or offensive to you? Has your dog or cat made you move?
Comment
Permalink
Email
Any animal that could be reasonably perceived as threatening can't live in an apartment. Notice I said, "reasonably." The standard can't be the owner or neighbor's subjective whim. This means the top breeds responsible for most attacks are right out; on the other hand, if you're terrified of your neighbor's pug, you better have the bite marks or Youtube video to prove you right. I have known people amazed and outraged at the trouble they had finding accommodations for their pit bulls, Neapolitan mastiffs, and the like, since they are of the opinion that their dogs are all sweet babies. Like most Americans, they fail to understand that their subjective opinions, backed up by nothing, are really of no importance.
As far as barking, the usual language in a lot of noise ordinances and nuisance lawsuits is something like "excessive, unrelenting, or habitual." Dogs bark, so if you never want to hear a dog bark, ever, you should probably live in an apartment that forbids pets, maybe in Saudi Arabia. Constant separation-anxiety barking, however, is inexcusable.
Whatever the issue, you have to remember that your neighbors pay rent and are entitled to the quiet enjoyment of their apartments. This means being able to sleep at night, as well as being able to walk down the staircase without reasonable apprehension of imminent death by mauling.
Rona,
I've run into this with renters. There is a legal definition of nuisance for pets. MGL Ch 140 Sec. 157. The statute declares animals to be a nuisance if the animal has a vicious disposition, excessively barks or attacks or bites another animal. We have used that caveat in leases allowing pets subject to the pet not becoming a nuisance.
Quite a few master insurance and home owners' policies have breed restrictions as well.
Wanting a dog is a good reason to buy a house (even in a declining market). Especially if, like me, you like the really big ones. And as for the "quiet enjoyment," its legal meaning has nothing to do with noise. Perhaps the real estate attorney would care to comment.
In any case, a barking dog is not a lot different from loud music, a late party, or the guy who mows his lawn, jackhammers his driveway, or practices his drums at a time inconvenient for you. Annoying, and sometimes very unpleasant, but it's also part of living among people. As long as the dog is not threatening people, it's hard (for this dog lover) to understand the problem. The beagle with the separation anxiety is a different problem ... not only are the neighbors suffering, but so is the dog. It boggles the mind to think the dog's humans would let this go on untreated.
Obviously there are people who really don't like pets who would disagree completely.
And as for the "quiet enjoyment," its legal meaning has nothing to do with noise.
It is not limited to noise. But noise can certainly interfere with it.
dogs truly are man's best friend...
The legal definition of "quiet enjoyment":
"QUIET ENJOYMENT - In leases there are frequently covenants by which the lessor agrees that the lessee shall peaceably enjoy the premises leased; this is called a covenant for quiet enjoyment. This covenant goes to the possession and not to the title. A covenant for quiet enjoyment does not extend as far as a covenant of warranty.
"The covenant for quiet enjoyment is broken only by an entry, or lawful expulsion from, or some actual disturbance in, the possession. But the tortious entry of the covenantor, without title, is a breach of the covenant for quiet enjoyment."
I dunno, I lived next to a psychotic woman that screamed obscenities 24 hours a day. We were told there wasn't anything that could be done. But, you know, we weren't allowed to have a dog because "they bark".
Would you please clean after your dogs? Damn! That's tiresome ...
Several people living in the condo building I'm in have dogs. There's three dogs (3 different owners) that bark when the buzzer goes off. It's annoying but I can deal with that. But outside these same dogs bark and lunge towards you when you walk by them. They're small to medium breeds and always on a leash so I think since the owners can hold them back that they don't think it's a big deal. But it's a big deal to me, I feel threatened and don't think I should have to be exposed to that. I love dogs, want one badly but I'm waiting until I have a detached home of my own. I haven't complained yet because I use to work at an animal shelter and know that people give up their dogs because of housing restrictions and don't want that to happen to these dogs. Can or should an association enforce the use of muzzles, short leashes, obedience training?
Susan, please read the statutes and case law, which are what actually determines what the rules say in MA. For example, in Manzaro v. McCann, the court held that a tenant's right to quiet enjoyment was infringed by excessive ringing of smoke alarms.
I'm a landlord and if dogs would pay rent, I'd only rent to them.
They don't party all night, get drunk or have huge fights with each other.
They don't throw cigarette butts all over the place or leave garbage spread around.
"The amount of noise which anyone can bear undisturbed stands in inverse proportion to his mental capacity, and may therefore be regarded as a pretty fair measure of it. ...Noise is torture to all intellectual people."
Arthur Schopenhauer
The World as Will and Idea
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
Recent Posts
browse this blog
by categoryINside Boston.com