Unbelievably Noisy Bar Next Door

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: RI

I did some searching online for some answers and stumbled upon this forum. Hopefully I'm in the right section. Thanks in advance for any help and replies!

I just moved into a new apartment. I signed a one year lease by myself, running from 1/1/15-12/31/15. I didn't move in right away and just spent my first nights here this past week. Everything was fine at first, however last night being the first weekend night is when I realized I have a major problem.

I live next to a bar. I knew this going in of course and expected a certain noise level. Now I'm a 26 year old guy. I'm no stranger to the bar and partying lifestyle, although I've slowed down on that front considerably in the past few years. The vibrance and liveliness of my new neighborhood is what drew me to the area.

But last night (Friday) around 10 the music started next door. The dj booth seemed to be set up in a canopied section of the bar with absolutely no sound insulation. It was mind-numbingly loud and sounded as if it was coming from every room in my apartment. I walked out on the street and the noise was not that loud from the front of the building. Only in the alley in the back was it outrageously loud. Unfortunately my apartment is directly above this alley. I called the police department to lodge a complaint and they said they could hear the music in the background through the phone. They said they'd send a car to check it out and call me back. Of course that didn't happen and the complaint was no doubt ignored. The music went on at this insane volume until 2 am when the bar closed. I'm assuming this is going to be happening every Friday and Saturday night, and I even see on this bars facebook page they are having an "MLK" event night this Sunday until 2 am! I work on Monday at 9 am so I have a real problem with this.

This has left me extremely down on this new apartment. I plan to talk to the bar owner about the noise level as well as my landlord. My question to you is, do I have any legal grounds here? I looked up noise ordinance levels in Providence but I didn't find much. I have to believe there is some type of noise violation here, the volume was that loud. Does the bar have any legal responsibility to make an attempt to contain their noise level? Does the landlord legally have to take action if a tenant's quality of life is being impacted due to this noise? Can I legally break my lease? Do I have any options or just be forced to live with the fact that I apparently didn't do enough homework on the area before moving in? I don't have any law experience so any help will be greatly appreciated.

You didn't do your homework. How is that the bar owner's or your landlord's fault? Hint: It isn't.

The bar has to operate its business in conformity with the law, including any noise restrictions. If they are operating within the law, let's hope that their loud party nights are infrequent.

Thanks for the fast response.

I pretty much expected as much. I just feel there should be a (legal?) responsibility of any bar that's going to amplify music to make an attempt to contain their sound levels. As I mentioned I didn't find much on noise ordinance levels when I searched, but I'm also inexperienced with anything like this so was hoping someone may have had some advice there.

I agree the landlord likely doesn't have any responsibility here. I suppose I'm just frustrated with them already due to an issue of misrepresentation of a parking space and I guess I'm just feeling a bit mislead on this whole place.

I haven't talked to either the bar owner or the landlord yet. I was just hoping to load up on as much knowledge about a situation like this as I could before doing so. Thanks again.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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The bar has to operate its business in conformity with the law, including any noise restrictions. If they are operating within the law, let's hope that their loud party nights are infrequent.

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Is there an easy place to look up such laws? I did some google searching about noise ordinance laws in Providence but didn't come up with anything for an establishment. Mostly just for residents.

its tricky, some police I hear carry a noise meter and cannot go over a certain level, but I don't think many stations have this gadget, and if nothing was done after you called,, I really doubt anything would be done in the future, you can keep calling the police I suspect.

on the bright side, you have a bar within walking distance, maybe the owner might give you a few free drinks. me personally would not have rented a place nextdoor to a bar,, besides the noise, you will have hit and runs with drunks leaving the parking lot, fights, drug sales. a number of bad things that happen when you live next to a bar.

You can find Providence's ordinances here. See, esp., Part II, Article III, Sec. 16.

What is the zoning classification for the location of the bar and your apartment. It seems reasonable to infer that you're not in a residential district.

I suggest you get a night job.

I do have access to a decibel meter and can record the sound levels. I just don't know what the legal limits are or where to find them. I'm still looking around without any luck. I am also planning to talk to the owner and I will file more complaints with the police if nothing changes. Squeaky wheel gets the grease I suppose.

I actually moved to this area for all the restaurants and bars in walking distance. I did look into this bar next door beforehand. It's a cigar bar. My thinking was basically the crowd will be middle aged men who go there to smoke cigars and lounge. Not my scene but shouldn't be too bad to live next to. Well apparently this cigar bar thinks it's a night club.

Lesson learned either way. I've lived in Boston previously with bars on my street and had no noise issues whatsoever. This just happens to be that bar that you can hear it's techno bass drum 3 blocks down the road.

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Thanks everyone for the responses.

As for a night job, I'm in grad school at night as well as working my full time 9-5. Not exactly the schedule that calls for an extra night job.

^Thanks a lot Mr. Knowitall. Your name seems to speak for itself, huh? I suppose I would be surprised if my area is considered residential, although I will confirm that.

I would think the police would need to take the readings with their own official meter though, but you never know. have to tried to see if the guy will let you out of your lease? being you just moved,, it might be worth a phone call

If I end up filing another complaint with the police I might request a car with a decibel meter.

Getting out of my lease was something I had in mind and did mention in my first post. Do I have the legal grounds to do so? I'm thinking the landlord will have no reason to let me out of the lease other than doing so just to help me out, which I'd be verrrry surprised if she does based on my interactions with her.