Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New Jersey
One loud party warrants eviction?
My roommate and I threw a house party. We had about 20 guests and were loud just because of the number of people but by midnight things were much quieter. The noise was never outside, we kept it in the house. We were never blasting music. The landlord is threatening eviction based on this one event. We do not throw parties frequently, this was the very first one in two years. There is no nuisance clause in our lease. Can the landlord evict us based on this one event? If we want to have another party sometime in the distant future and we kill the noise by a reasonable hour does he have any legal rights to evict? Nothing in the house was damaged as we had very respectful guests. The landlord lives in the apartment upstairs. He never called us the night of the party to ask us to quiet down so we did not know we were being too loud. I think it is unreasonable for him to not allow maybe 2 gatherings a year at the most. They are not in any way out of control and there is no illegal activity, it's just people having fun in our home.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: One loud party warrants eviction?
The landlord has to give you written notice as to any alleged misconduct on your part, giving you the
opportunity to cease and desist from the conduct. Only then can he terminate your lease and file with the Court to evict you. Then he must prove the
misconduct.
Call me if you like.
Gary Moore, Esquire
Hackensack, New Jersey
www.garymooreattorneyatlaw.com
Re: One loud party warrants eviction?
This is why we have judges.
The landlord/tenant statutes generally require that a tenant be given written notice of behavior to which the landlord objects and which may result in eviction. There are some exceptions for circumstances that don't apply here. So, no notice, no eviction.
That said, even if the landlord has given you such notice does not mean that a judge would order an eviction if a suit eventually results. Unless your lease has some unusual terms, social events once in a while are within the contemplated use of the premises and the landlord has the burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the party was conduct that went beyond that which was reasonable. Most judges would expect to get corroborating police reports to sustain a nuisance claim supporting eviction.
See also: http://info.corbettlaw.net/lawguru.htm
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