Relentless arguments – domestic violence

Do I have any legal recourse to the Owner, Managing Agent, Owners Corporation or anyone for having to temporarily move out of my home due to unacceptable and unrelenting noise from arguing tenants?

My husband and I have lived in our apartment in a small block of 8 in a peaceful suburb on the Lower North Shore for the past 3 years. The block is quiet and things have been generally good.  We are owners and I am on the Executive Committee. 

Around five months ago tenants moved in to the unit below us. From the very first night, they have had extremely loud arguments.  We hear screaming, crying, hitting, yelling, swearing, furniture being knocked over, people being pushed over, doors slamming repeatedly with such force it sounds like gunshots.  We (and others) have witnessed them physically fighting on a number of occasions in our front yard or in the street.  Don’t feel too sorry for the woman involved, she is the aggressor.  We have heard her boyfriend sobbing ‘you beat me up for no reason’.  These arguments happen a few times a week!  It is relentless, any time of the day or night.

In case you think this all sounds too outrageous to be true, just this weekend the police attended on Saturday morning – builders at the construction site next door called the police when they saw the couple fighting in the street.  And police attended again on Sunday afternoon when two neighbours called the police in what was a particularly brutal argument.  The woman had visible bruising and the man had a black eye.  There were also incidents on Saturday night and Sunday night where the police were not called but the noise was sufficient to wake up a number of neighbours.

The owner and managing agent were very slow to respond when I first notified them of these incidents within a month of the tenants moving in. Eventually they agreed that when the six month lease expired they would not renew it.  Meantime, the situation has become so stressful for me, I have moved out temporarily (sadly leaving hubby and kitty at home).   Ongoing disruption to my sleep, distress at hearing such heated and violent arguments, anxiety and feeling unsafe in my own home, have made the situation untenable for me.

As for the police, they tell us that unless one of the couple makes a complaint of abuse there is nothing they can do.

So aside from the stress and disruption over the past five months, I am now paying for alternative accommodation (found a place on Airbnb a few blocks from home until the couple move out next month.

Surely the owner or managing agent have some responsibility?

Would really appreciate some advice, I am at my wits end.