Leadership Letter
September 2024
ASK COUNSELOR TARA
ASCE’s General Counsel Tara Hoke clarifies legal questions facing sections and branches here each month. Send Tara an email with your question.
How can we ensure a pleasant environment for attendees of our events?
While hotels, community centers, and other public facilities offer a convenient location to host events, they also come with one unfortunate downside – the risk of external noise. While noise is an expected, or even welcome, experience at social hour or sporting event activities, few would want an educational session or a formal ceremony to be disrupted by construction noise, loud partygoers, or other disturbances from outside the event.
One way to mitigate the risk of such an occurrence is by ensuring that your rental contracts include a “quiet enjoyment” clause. Often found in residential rental agreements as well, this clause spells out a landlord or lessor’s obligation to ensure that tenants can enjoy their rented space without unreasonable disturbances. For example, ASCE’s model hotel contract includes the following language:
Quiet Enjoyment – The Hotel shall be responsible for ensuring that ASCE’s use of all function space is free from outside distractions, disturbances, and interruptions. Walls shall be sound-proof, but if they are not, the Hotel shall avoid assigning to any function room(s) adjacent to or across from ASCE’s function rooms any group which generate noise sufficient to detract from ASCE’s functions. If necessary, the Hotel shall leave an empty room between ASCE and such other group as a buffer to eliminate the risk of disturbance. In the event ASCE’s use of any function space is disturbed despite these efforts, upon notice from ASCE the Hotel shall respond immediately to cause such disturbance to cease.
While courts will often enforce an implied right of “quiet enjoyment” even in the absence of a contract clause, a written clause demonstrates a tenant’s expectations for the event space, provides a specific task for the landlord in the event of a disturbance, and makes a stronger case for a contract breach if the landlord fails to take action when needed.