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socaldisneydude

Can I break my lease due to false advertising?

socaldisneydude
17 years ago

I know that getting out of a lease is next to impossible but I figure it's worth a shot to see if anyone can at least appreciate my situation.

A year ago my fiance and I moved down from a small town in Northern CA called Merced. It was a nice town and the rent for a nice apartment was very low. Well, I am a native of southern CA and after a year of living in a small quiet town where even Taco Bell closed at 10:00 PM I wanted to move back home, closer to friends and family. So, we moved down to the city of Grand Terrace, near Riverside. The apartment itself was nice. It came with a washer and dryer, located on the bottom floor and right by the pool. It was wonderful for about 3 weeks before the neighbors from hell moved in upstairs. Well, after 3 months of complaining and calling the property managers we decided to bite the bullet and break our lease. We tried a find a place closer to my work in Anaheim Hills and located a nice place across the street from my work which would make my commuting a breeze!

We visit the community and the manager takes great pride in showing us the flowers and the grass and the pools and about how great the nighborhood is and how we are so close to shopping centers and yadda yadda yadda. Even the wesbites claimed how it was a nice, QUIET community nestled in the Anaheim Hills. Well, we were sold and put down a deposit on a studio apartment.

Two weeks later we were all set to move in. We has just pulled up in our moving van when we suddenyly hear a thunderous roar followed by the ear splitting sounds of a train horn. It was LOUD. Well, as we quickly found out, just on the other side the caport, about 200 feet away was the BNSF rairoads busiest rail lines in the Los Angeles area. Not only freight traffic but commuter rail as well. There was a railroad crossing just beyond the trees and the trains are required to sound their horns when they come to any crossings. At first we thought it was kinda funny and figured it was only noisy because we were outside. We were certain that the apartment must have thick wals and double paned windows to block out the sound right?

WRONG! The place was probably built in the 70's or early 80's and the windows were not double paned. The walls were just a hair thicker than cardboard. Needless to say that everytime a train comes by the whole apartment shakes like a smaller magnitude earhquake. Water splashes around inside glasses, plates rattle in the pantry, converstations are placed on hold on the telephone. These trains run day and night, sometimes we get lucky and we will have a span of maybe 30 minutes or so without any trains comming by but mostly they come, two at a time in some cases because it's double track.

I haven't bothered to discuss this with management because I know there is nothing they can do for me. The railroad was here first and the genius that decided to build apartments at this location needs to be shot. What makes this even more funny is that they actually had the nerve to send out fliers and tell us that the rent will be raised when it comes time to renew our lease. I've got news for them. It ain't happening. And in the past few months there have been several other tenants who have moved out and the apartments have yet to be rented. I seriously doubt that anyone stays longer then their lease.

What gets me is their website advertising a nice, quiet community. Such bold lies!

Anyways, enough about my situation. Any suggestions? Earplugs don't work by the way. Moving to another unit won't work either as the noise is just as bad in any location in the complex.


Comments (5)

  • luxum
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I doubt you could break your lease for them calling it "quiet" but maybe. If you were going to pursue that you should probably consult with a lawyer and check up on the local housing rules (especially those that allow for "quiet enjoyment") that apply to you. I'd be afraid the judge would point out that you should have checked to see where the complex was situated before entering into a legal contract to live there. It's probably easier to just move when the lease is up.

    Also - this is probably not the sort of thing you want to hear, but you can get used to living in that sort of location. It sounded like you were describing my complex. The building i live in is right next to a busy rail line (in fact there is a switching station right on the other side of the parking lot which means traincars banging into each other among other loud noises and vibrations). In addition, our complex is under one of the approaches used to get to Tampa International a few blocks away. Low flying planes are very noisy, and the air corridor above us is high traffic. You do have to occasionally pause a conversation or program when it's especially noisy, but for the most part it fades into the background after you live with it for awhile. And as noises go, i'd much rather have this type of impersonal, environmental noise than the sort of noise i've always had before from other people's bass, arguments, banging, stomping etc that always bleeds through from other apartments. Of course, the neighbors here aren't any quieter than my old neighbors, but the airport and train traffic mean that there is a lot of white noise to disguise the neighbor noise. And the well landscaped grounds really do make me feel good. Maybe if you give it a chance you might find it's not so bad. :p

  • cranky
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This is true, I lived less than a block away from a NYC (LIRR) commuter train line. It didn't really bother me at all. (There were other noises in the neighborhood and the building that bothered me far more.)

  • socaldisneydude
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have been told by family and friends that you do get used to it and for the most part we have. I used to live near an international airport and after a year or so we got used to the planes taking off every few minutes but this railroad situation wouldn't be so bad if it were not for the fact that there is a crossing very close by and the trains honk those loud horns at ALL hours of the day and night. I know it's a legal thing but man when you hear that train really laying on that horn at 4 in the morning and it wakes you up....I seriously feel that every night I sleep in 3 hour segments rather than a solid 8. Only time I have had good sleep is when I've spent the night elsewhere.

  • socaldisneydude
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well here is an update on my little drama about my trains and the pains of trains.

    We were already searching for another apartment to move to when our lease was up in May. There were less expensive places that we found but they were 15 miles away. I forgot to mention in my original posting that both my fiance and I work at the same place and we literaly live across the street from where we work so the commute couldn't be easier. Anyways, after careful consideration we deciced to move to the other end of the apartment complex, the furthest area you can be from the railroad. I've already spoken to some of the residents in that building and they say that you don't really hear the trains inside once the door is closed. We also found out that they are building a bridge so that the road goes OVER the tracks, this eliminating the need for a crossing and no more horn blowing. So, we are staying. It just makes more sense to stay in the same complex and save all that time, money and hassle of moving.

  • cranky
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Good luck. Hopefully you'll find that it isn't as bad as you had feared.

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