Noise Complaints and Peaceful Enjoyment Notices for NL Landlords

Chronic noise, harassment, or interference with other occupants is one of the grounds that lets a landlord in Newfoundland and Labrador issue a fast termination notice. Section 24 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2018 covers unreasonable interference with the peaceful enjoyment or reasonable privacy of the landlord or other tenants — and the notice period is shorter than most other grounds.

What Section 24 Covers

"Peaceful enjoyment" is not limited to noise. The Act addresses unreasonable interference with the peace, comfort, or privacy of the landlord or other occupants. Common situations include:

• Persistent loud music, parties, or shouting at hours that disturb neighbouring units.
• Harassment or threats directed at the landlord, other tenants, or visitors.
• Conduct that creates security risks — propping open building entry doors, allowing strangers into common areas.
• Surveillance or intrusion into other tenants' private spaces.

The interference must be unreasonable. Ordinary living sounds — footsteps in an upstairs apartment, a child crying, a television at normal volume — do not meet the threshold. The adjudicator looks at frequency, severity, and whether the behaviour continued after warnings.

The 5-Clear-Day Notice

A landlord who can establish unreasonable interference serves Form RT-2018-00040 (Landlord's Notice to Terminate Early — Cause), citing section 24. The termination date must be at least 5 clear days after the date of service.

"Clear days" means the day the notice is served and the move-out day itself are both excluded from the count. If you serve the notice on a Monday, the earliest termination date is the following Sunday.

Remember to apply the deemed service rules: registered mail adds 5 days to the service date, and electronic notices sent after 4:00 p.m. are deemed served the next business day.

Building the Evidence File

Section 24 cases succeed or fail on evidence. At a Residential Tenancies Tribunal hearing, the landlord carries the burden of proof. Useful evidence includes:

• Incident logs with dates, times, and descriptions of each disturbance.
• Police report numbers if law enforcement was called.
• Signed statements from other tenants or neighbours who witnessed the behaviour.
• Written warnings the landlord previously sent to the tenant, with proof of delivery.
• Photographs or video of damage, blocked entrances, or other physical evidence.

A single noise complaint is unlikely to sustain a termination. Adjudicators look for a pattern of unreasonable behaviour that the tenant was warned about and continued anyway.

Section 24 vs Section 20

Both sections can apply when a lease includes a "quiet enjoyment" clause and the tenant breaches it. The difference is speed: section 20 (material breach) requires a preliminary notice to remedy, a reasonable cure period, and then a termination notice of at least one month before the end of a rental period. Section 24 gets to a 5-day termination notice without the cure period — but the conduct must reach the "unreasonable interference" threshold, not just a technical lease violation.

For less severe situations — a first-time noise issue from a generally cooperative tenant — a written warning followed by a section 20 process may be more defensible at a hearing than jumping straight to section 24.

What Comes After the Notice

If the tenant does not leave by the termination date, the landlord cannot change the locks or shut off utilities. The next step is an Application for Dispute Resolution with the Residential Tenancies Office ($20 filing fee). The full guide to ending a tenancy in Newfoundland and Labrador walks through the entire sequence from notice to enforcement.

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