Neighbor complaning about loud noise from tenant's autistic son

[Mauricio Lopez]

Hello everyone. I am currently presenting a situation I had not come across before and I can use some help from your wisdom and experience.

My family owns a rental property in a B class neighborhood in San Diego (Which used to be our primary residence a few years ago) and this is being rented to a family (single mother and three children) for a year or so already, under section 8. The tenant has not been a problem at all to us, she has been very communicative with us, rent is on time, she takes care of the property quite well. Her youngest son is autistic, 5-6 yrs old. The neighbor next door, 70 year old caucasian lady, is complaining that my tenant's autistic child has been making a lot of noises (tapping on the patio wood floor and screaming) for many days now (She has shown me a daily log with dates and time) and this is altering her peace. The neighbor indicates this can go for all day, sometimes from 8 am till 5pm, and she has tried to communicate this to my tenant but my tenant responded that this is a personal matter and the neighbor should not be inquirying about it, and if she continues she will take her to court. I believe my tenant's autistic son is already under a program where he receives help.

I have spoken to the neighbor already and intend to talk to my tenant about the situation, mainly as a mediator. I dont really know about any legal matters and not sure how this would go. I am just being brought into this by my former neighbor as she wanted to let me know about the situation before she takes a next step such as filing a complaint.

I used to live in this house and I know that my former neighbor certainly has a history of complaining about certain things (dog getting to her backyard, front yard hedges between our house and her house getting messy) but I always tried to keep thing respectful and would help where reasonable.

I really would appreciate if you can share with me any tips on how I could deal or not deal with this situation.

Thanks so much in advance,

Mauricio

[Scott Mac]

Originally posted by @Mauricio Lopez:

Hello everyone. I am currently presenting a situation I had not come across before and I can use some help from your wisdom and experience.

My family owns a rental property in a B class neighborhood in San Diego (Which used to be our primary residence a few years ago) and this is being rented to a family (single mother and three children) for a year or so already, under section 8. The tenant has not been a problem at all to us, she has been very communicative with us, rent is on time, she takes care of the property quite well. Her youngest son is autistic, 5-6 yrs old. The neighbor next door, 70 year old caucasian lady, is complaining that my tenant's autistic child has been making a lot of noises (tapping on the patio wood floor and screaming) for many days now (She has shown me a daily log with dates and time) and this is altering her peace. The neighbor indicates this can go for all day, sometimes from 8 am till 5pm, and she has tried to communicate this to my tenant but my tenant responded that this is a personal matter and the neighbor should not be inquirying about it, and if she continues she will take her to court. I believe my tenant's autistic son is already under a program where he receives help.

I have spoken to the neighbor already and intend to talk to my tenant about the situation, mainly as a mediator. I dont really know about any legal matters and not sure how this would go. I am just being brought into this by my former neighbor as she wanted to let me know about the situation before she takes a next step such as filing a complaint.

I used to live in this house and I know that my former neighbor certainly has a history of complaining about certain things (dog getting to her backyard, front yard hedges between our house and her house getting messy) but I always tried to keep thing respectful and would help where reasonable.

I really would appreciate if you can share with me any tips on how I could deal or not deal with this situation.

Thanks so much in advance,

Mauricio

Hi Mauricio,

If it were mine, I'd stay out of it 100%.

I'd let the courts tell these two what the laws of California have to say about this.

You have a disability renter in a SFH, and they have stated they are ready to go to court.

That's where I'd leave it.

As long as the monthly rent keeps coming in, I'd let the Judge sort it out for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgbGOBeeaD8

Good Luck!