Property Fact Pattern
Theresa was about to start her first year of law school in a new city. While visiting the school in June, she entered into a one-year lease for an apartment with Larry, a landlord. The lease stated that rent was to start on September 1 and that rent of $500 was due at the first of each month.
Theresa showed up at the apartment on September 1, having already paid the first month's rent, with a rental truck loaded with her furniture but she was unable to move in because Harry was still living there. Theresa immediately called Larry and informed him of the situation. Larry said, "It's not my problem." Theresa checked into a motel and kept her furniture in the rental truck incurring additional charges on the rental truck. Two weeks later, Harry moved out of the apartment, and Theresa moved into the apartment on September 15.
On October 15 just as the weather began to turn cold, L turned off the heat and hot water to the apartment because T had not paid her rent on October 1. T insisted that L owed her for the two weeks in September that she was unable to live in the apartment. On investigating the lack of hot water, T noticed that the roof leaked. She did not inform L about the leak. T had to pay for a gym membership to take a hot shower every day.
On November 15, Theresa had become disgusted with the cold water and moved out of the apartment without ever having paid October or November rent. She immediately informed Larry of her reasons. Larry didn't do anything until December 1 when he finally inspected the apartment and discovered the leak. During the period of November 15 to December 1, there had been substantial rains and the leak caused considerable damage to the apartment. Larry fixed the leak and hot water, and put a one-line ad on the Internet looking for a tenant. The ad cost Larry $10. No one rented the apartment until February 1.
Question: What are the rights and obligations of both the Landlord and the Tenant?
Duty to Deliver Possession
Majority View: Landlord is under a duty to deliver actual possession of the premises to the tenant when the term of the lease begins. Failure to do so puts the landlord in breach and subject to damages. Tenant may recover costs to find housing during the term she cannot inhabit the premises and any business losses that may have occurred because of the holdover tenant.
Minority View: It is the responsibility of the tenant to evict the holdover tenant. The landlord merely has to transfer the legal right for the tenant to have possession and not actual possession.
Duty to Pay Rent
Tenant has a duty to pay rent for the entire lease term according to the provisions of the lease as to amount and when the rent shall accrue.
If a tenant is in breach of the duty to pay rent, then at common law, the landlord has a right to sue for damages but collect only that amount which is in arrears. However, the modern view is to allow the landlord to sue for both damages and evict the tenant.
The duty to pay rent may be overcome by a breach by the landlord.
Implied Covenant of Quiet Enjoyment
Every lease has an implied covenant of quiet enjoyment, whereby the landlord (or someone with paramount title) promises not to interfere with the tenant's possession or quiet enjoyment of the property. Interference with quiet enjoyment occurs when the there is a total eviction, partial eviction or constructive eviction.
Constructive Eviction
A constructive eviction occurs when the following occurs:
- The landlord does not provide a service he obligated to provide or acts in some way that causes injury to the premises.
- The conditions as a result of the above make the premises uninhabitable such that there is substantial interference with the tenant's quiet enjoyment of the property.
- The tenant abandons the premises within a reasonable time after the covenant is breached.
Implied Warranty of Habitability
The majority of states impose a rule on landlords for residential rental property that leased premises are reasonably suitable for residential use - i.e. heat, hot water, no flooding, etc.
The remedy is for the tenant to:
- Move out and terminate the lease.
- Stay on property and sue for damages.
Duty to Repair - Permissive Waste
Generally, a tenant does not have a duty to make major repairs on the premises unless they are required to do so under the lease. However, under the doctrine of permissive waste, a tenant has a duty to inform the landlord of situations where major repairs are needed in order to prevent damage to the premises by the elements - such as leaky roofs, broken windows, potential flooding. Failure to do so makes the tenant liable for damages to the premises but not for the cost to repair the problem.
Abandonment, Surrender and Acceptance
At common law, when a tenant abandons the premises, he is still liable for the rent for the entire term of the lease even if the landlord does nothing to attempt to relet the premises. However, the majority of states now require that the landlord make reasonable efforts to mitigate the damages by attempting to relet the premises. Successfully reletting the premises does not remove the liability of the original tenant for the costs of reletting and for the time in which the premises stood vacant.
Tenant may also avoid liability for rent if it can be proven that landlord has accepted surrender of premises by re-entering and occupying the premises himself. Entering to make repairs after abandonment does not usually constitute acceptance the surrender.
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