Any landlords? Lease and Noise Question (Arlington: apartment, neighborhood, tenants)

[Skatergirl]

I've gotten conflicting information and Arlington county people have not been very helpful on giving me input on my question.

Can anyone tell me if a landlord has the right to put a noise clause in the lease so that the tenants cannot hold loud parties (I'm talking about the kegger type parties that have no consideration for anyone) that disturb the neighbors?

Thanks for input!

[Margery]

Quoting from paragraph 10 of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors lease which is subject to the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act: " This lease may be terminated at the option of the Landlord in case of any nuisance, excessive noise, disturbance of conduct offensive to any other occupant of the building or neighborhood. "

[Carlingtonian]

It's your house. You can put anything they want in there, so long as it's not discriminatory. I guess the only difficulty would be the wording: Putting in something like "Tenant agrees not to throw loud parties" is way too vague. I'd instead put something like "Tenant will not have more than five guests visiting the property at a given time. All visitation after 11PM on weekends and after 9PM weeknights will be conducted indoors. Tenant agrees to abide by Arlington County noise ordinance."

[saganista]

Probably because state and local laws are a giant and intricate hodgepodge that renders definitive answers difficult to offer. In general however, lessors own the property they lease and have significant rights to protect both that property and the business relationships that they enjoy with all tenants. By defining within the lease what one is (e.g., more than ten people in the apartment at one time), a lessor could prohibit parties altogether, just as he can prohibit pets, charcoal grills, the storage of explosive materials, or any other act or condition potentially injurious to his property or business relationships. Again in general, if a restriction is clearly stated in the lease and the lessee signs it, he is bound by and can be held to it.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by Margery

Quoting from paragraph 10 of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors lease which is subject to the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act: " This lease may be terminated at the option of the Landlord in case of any nuisance, excessive noise, disturbance of conduct offensive to any other occupant of the building or neighborhood. "

If that language were to come under my review, I would immediately challenge it as being impermissibly broad. It is not possible for any individual to warrant that his conduct and behavior will not be found offensive by any other occupant of a building or neighborhood. Persons in general do not enjoy a right not to be offended. Not to be injured by another's conduct, yes. Not to be offended by it, no.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

It's your house. You can put anything they want in there, so long as it's not discriminatory.

Well, technically it's perfectly okay to discriminate, as long as you don't do it against or on the basis of a protected status or class. Race, religion, gender, national origin, and so forth. Noisemakers are not on the list to this point. But if they were to be added to the pertinent legislation, they too would become off limits. Until then, so long as you are transparent in doing so, discrimination against kegger-types should hold up in at least most jurisdictions.

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

I guess the only difficulty would be the wording: Putting in something like "Tenant agrees not to throw loud parties" is way too vague. I'd instead put something like "Tenant will not have more than five guests visiting the property at a given time. All visitation after 11PM on weekends and after 9PM weeknights will be conducted indoors. Tenant agrees to abide by Arlington County noise ordinance."

Exactly. All that goes to the notion of providing a tenant with fair notice. As a landlord, you are allowed many things, but not to pull a rabbit out of a hat. Words such as those above that make the nature, purpose, and conditions of a restriction clear and apparent to a reasonably competent person are very likely to stand up. If you in turn however are able to perceive that a prospective tenant may not be such a person (e.g., he doesn't appear to speak a word of English), you may lose your rights if you sign him up without taking some sort of remedial action to assure that fair notice has indeed been given.