Woman awarded damages in B.C. tribunal after three years of complaints regarding noisy neighbour

The woman claimed lost work and mental distress - depression, anxiety and insomnia - were a result of having to bear with her troublesome neighbours in the apartment above.

A woman who said she suffered depression, anxiety and insomnia as a result of the behaviour of her noisy neighbours in the apartment above has been awarded damages by the B.C. Civil Resolution Tribunal.

The decision, posted online March 25, details how Theresa McKraig was claiming $5,000 for mental distress and lost income after almost three years of alleged suffering and conflict.

According to the decision, the issues began shortly after Elma Banks and her three children moved into the home of Leonard Bourne and his son, in the apartment directly above McKraig’s, in June 2022.

“McKraig says the unit 307 residents engaged in loud, aggressive behaviour including screaming, swearing, physical and domestic violence, and threats of self-harm, that she could hear in unit 207,” says the decision.

McKraig stated the residents in the apartment above partied late into the night, played loud music, stomped around the unit, slammed doors and moved furniture at irregular hours. They also sometimes “threw garbage from their balcony onto her balcony below.” the decision says.

McKraig complained on a “regular and sometimes daily basis” between July and August that year, resulting in Bourne receiving warnings and bylaw fines on six separate occasions.

The complaints spurred on conflict, including one occasion detailed in the decision, in which Bourne yelled “we can make as much noise as we want till 11p.m. you (expletive)” from his window.

McKraig issued continued complaints to the strata regarding the ongoing arguing and noise, before making her CRT claim for $5,000 for the mental distress the ongoing disturbances were causing her, and the loss of income lost as a result, the decision says.

McKraig, a permanent, part-time hospital nurse, claimed she turned down extra shifts and wages because of “ongoing stress, depression, anxiety and insomnia,” and because she was “afraid to leave her unit,” according to the decision.

Tribunal member Mark Henderson said the “regular screaming, fighting, swearing, banging and stomping,” that McKraig logged in her emails to the strata would “have been intolerable to an ordinary person,” and were inconsistent with what could be considered “normal noise” for a family – even with four children.

Henderson rejected the $5,000 requested by McKraig for loss of work due to lack of evidence of the nursing shifts she had turned down, but did agree the disturbance was unreasonable enough to award some financial compensation.

“McKraig experienced the ongoing noise for approximately 23 months. Ms. McKraig also said she experienced poor sleep due to the noise,” he said.

“For these reasons, I find Ms. McKraig is entitled to $3,000 in damages for nuisance.”