How to respond to a noise complaint between tenants

Is the landlord responsible for noise between tenants?

Often, partly. Your duty comes from the lease (nearly every lease has a quiet enjoyment or no-nuisance clause), from your state's landlord-tenant law and from city noise ordinances, and the details differ by state. In practice, you should not ignore repeated, serious noise that makes a neighbor's home hard to live in, but you do not guarantee silence.

Ordinary living sounds (footsteps, a TV at a normal volume, a baby crying) are not violations. Loud music at night, shouting, parties and construction noise at odd hours are.

What steps should I take?

1. Log it: who complained, which units are involved, what the noise was and when. Ask the complaining tenant to note dates and times.
2. Check the lease for quiet hours and a noise clause, and your city's noise ordinance for legal limits.
3. Send the noisy tenant a friendly written reminder with the quiet hours quoted from the lease. Do not name the complaining tenant.
4. Tell the complaining tenant you have acted, without sharing the other tenant's details.
5. If it repeats, send a formal written notice that cites the lease clause and the dates.
6. If it continues after the formal notice, use the cure-or-quit or termination notice your state allows, after reading the rules for your state.

Example a made-up log reads: May 3, 11:40 p.m., unit 3A reports loud music from 3B. May 10, 12:15 a.m., same. May 11, a written reminder goes to 3B. May 24, 1:00 a.m., a third report. The log shows three reports in three weeks and one reminder, which is what a formal notice will rest on.

What should I be careful about?

• Treat every tenant the same. Acting harder on a family with children or on a tenant with a disability than on others for the same noise creates fair housing risk (42 U.S.C. 3604).
• Check whether the noise comes from a disability, such as a tenant with a condition who needs an accommodation. If a tenant raises it, read reasonable accommodation requests.
• Do not retaliate against a tenant who complained. See retaliation rules.
• Do not pass complaints along by shouting through a door. Keep it in writing.
• If the noise is a threat or a safety problem, call the police first.

What if the noise is the building, not the neighbor?

Thin floors, loud plumbing and a noisy air handler are maintenance issues. Open a work order, check what can be fixed (rugs and pads for hard floors, insulating pipes, replacing a worn fan) and tell the tenant what you will do. Write future leases to require rugs or pads on hard floors above another unit.

How DoorKeeping handles it

DoorKeeping emails tenants and keeps every notice as a document on the lease, so the reminder, the formal notice and the dates stay together. A building-noise problem becomes a work order, and you can send a job to a vendor by link. Ask Claude or ChatGPT to draft the reminder; you read it and send it. Rent and payments stay in your own bank accounts. DoorKeeping never holds your money and sends a payment only when you approve it.

Sources

1. Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3604 (Cornell Legal Information Institute), read Oct 30, 2026
2. DoorKeeping: Connect Claude or ChatGPT (steps and tools list), read Oct 30, 2026

Questions

Can I evict a tenant for noise?

Repeated noise that breaks the lease can be grounds after the notice steps your state requires. Start with documented warnings, since a judge will look for them.

Should I tell the noisy tenant who complained?

No. Say "we received a complaint" and quote the lease. Naming the neighbor risks conflict and retaliation claims.

What are quiet hours?

They are set by your lease and the city ordinance, often from late evening to early morning. Put the hours in the lease.

What if two tenants both complain about each other?

Log both, remind both of the lease in writing and look for the pattern. Do not take sides without facts.