By: MALEEHA SHEIKH - Parents across the country are trying to do their best during this time — they’re balancing working from home and managing children as best as they can.
One Mississauga mother is trying to do the same, but she says she’s now faced with another challenge in her condo — trying to keep her infant child and niece quiet, thanks to a noise complaint.
Keisha Snagg has been living in her Mississauga residence for over 25 years. She shares her condo with her mother, sister, 16-month-old son and six-year-old niece.
Snagg is currently unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and adding stress to an already bad situation is a warning letter she received last week from her property management company about a noise complaint on her floor.
They are threatening legal action if things don’t quiet down — something that may not be easily done with two young kids stuck at home.
“I got a letter from our building management stating that there is a noise complaint for my floor stating that there’s noise of hammers, toys being banged, walking and stomping throughout the apartment,” she says. “Everybody’s home. The kids are [at] home.”
She says she tries to keep the kids on a routine, help with school activities and go for walks outside with her infant son but sometimes it’s not possible. Telling her niece to be quiet is a challenge as well. Snagg says the kids are in bed by early evening but some noise is inevitable.
“The six-year-old understands, but when she sees the 16-month-old, she’s going to want to play too, so she forgets everything we just told her,” she says. “You have young, you have old, you have kids, no kids, you have pets … some people might not want to go outside. We are trying to help keep noise levels down. I’m doing my part.”
Lawyer Dheeraj Sindhwani with Carberry Law says condos do have the right to take legal actions against noise.
He says a condominium is a corporation, so it has its own rules, regulations, and bylaws and part of that is controlling noise in a way that doesn’t affect other individuals.
Management does have the right to seek legal action against a resident if they contravene a bylaw, but even Sindhwani agrees that especially now, condo management should take matters in stride.
“While they may be threatening legal action, it’s very unlikely they will succeed given the current pandemic,” he says adding that “everybody needs to be reasonable at this time and take into consideration everybody’s individual circumstances.”
CityNews reached out to Snagg’s manager about the letter and they say it was served as more of a warning, but added that they have seen a decrease in noise complaints since the letter went out.