Who murdered quiet enjoyment?

Do you know what a nuisance is? Sure you do. In fact, everyone has a gut sense of what constitutes a nuisance. Apparently everyone has such a sense, except Brooklyn Housing Court.

The New York City Rent Control Law states that a tenant may be evicted, "where the tenant is committing or permitting a nuisance in such housing accommodations..." But just what is a nuisance? Case law has defined a nuisance as a series of actions which are unwarrantable, unreasonable, or unlawful to the annoyance, inconvenience, discomfort or damage of another. A nuisance also includes conduct which substantially interferes with another's right to use and enjoy property. However, judicial activism has led judges to include the requirement that tenant conduct must also be dangerous to the safety of others in order to constitute a nuisance. That was never the intent of the law and comes about as judges grope to find a rational to deny an eviction petition.

Which brings us to the case of Bruce (not his real name) on Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights. Willow Street is a beautiful, tree-lined street with million dollar townhouses. Bruce has been a rent-controlled tenant paying less than $100 per month for a studio in a nine-family building since the 1960s. To call Bruce an unpleasant person is a gross understatement.

He apparently harbors significant anger towards blacks, Jews and homosexuals. In fact, based upon his statements, we know he dislikes most groups, with the possible exception of Eskimos, but then how many Eskimos live in Brooklyn Heights? Bruce's bigotry is not something reserved for private conversations with friends and family. He typically vents his prejudice in public, in a very loud fashion, occasionally at 2 a.m., sometimes directed to these groups in general and sometimes directed at this neighbors personally.

Although the nine-page complaint documents his choicest racial, anti-Semitic and homophobic language, good taste compels me to leave that to the reader's imagination. However, Bruce's obnoxious conduct went much further than offensive language shouted in the hallway.

Among his more endearing habits was to publicly and repeatedly accuse other tenants of bringing "little boys" to the building for sex. He physically assaulted other tenants and the landlord, once with a knife and once with a metal bar. He routinely banged on floors, walls and ceilings to annoy his neighbors. Late at night he would play music so loud that the neighbors' windows would vibrate. He threw a cinder block and a chaise lounge off the roof. He harassed a lady down the block to the point where she obtained an order of protection. Over the years he sent hundreds of notes to other tenants and the landlord, often containing abusive language and decorated with swastikas.

The neighbors coped as well as they could. Neighbors on the block would not walk in front of the building, they crossed the street. Neighbors would not stop to talk to one another on the sidewalk, fearing abusive epithets hurled from Bruce's window. The police were called numerous times, in fact a SWAT team was once called to restrain one of Bruce's more animated outbursts.

Ultimately, other tenants came to realize that they didn't have to tolerate this nuisance, so they moved. In the last 5 years, four tenants left specifically to escape Bruce's unique character flaws. The landlord was frustrated, but as long as he could rent the other apartments he hoped to just muddle through.

However, that all changed when one outraged tenant moved out and told every local real estate broker about the "entertainment" provided by Bruce to his captive audience. The landlord found that he could not rent the apartment. His operating margin was not so generous that he could afford to have vacant apartments indefinitely. Finally, facing foreclosure by his bank, the landlord took the plunge and tried to evict Bruce as a nuisance in Brooklyn Housing Court.

For experienced property owners it is not necessary to relate all of the facts, but let me just say that the case was filed in January of 1993 and the trial was finally completed in November of 1994. Two tenants in the building testified against Bruce, who was defended at public expense by Brooklyn Legal Services. It is instructive to note that by the time the judge rendered her decision, Bruce would claim another victim. The landlord had decided he had enough and he sold his interest in the building to an even greater fool.

The judge rendered her decision in December of 1994. "While Bruce's behavior may certainly have been offensive to the other tenants in the building, petitioner did not establish that Bruce posed a danger to the safety of the other tenants. According to the testimony, the pertinent episodes have evolved as the result of Bruce's drinking. Bruce admitted that he has stopped drinking as of September 1994 (sic)... the petition is dismissed..."

With judges like this to enforce quiet enjoyment, why should anyone bother to live in New York City?

(Real Estate Nightmares can be seen on public access television and on talk radio on WEVD (1050 AM) every Wednesday at 8 p.m.)