Landlord/Tenant

Question 1

A subletter of a property is said to have privity with? (Landlord or Tenant)

Answer 1

Tenant

Question 2

Unlike a subletter, an assignee has privity with? (Landlord or Tenant)

Answer 2

Landlord

Question 3

What are the Four Types of Leases?

Answer 3

Tenancy for a term (lease held for a specific period of time)

Periodic tenancy (tenant pays periodic rent but with no specified termination date

Tenancy at will (parties agree that tenants can stay there, an informal arrangement that may not have a lease and rent may not even be required, lasts until one party violates the arrangement - adult children moving back to family home)

Tenancy at sufferance (launched by any of the three previous arrangements, but the person stays on without the landlord’s consent)

Question 4

David Properties v. Selk:
Selk sold large tract to David Properties but keeps a small home on the property under a written lease. He stayed 23 months past the lease even though David Properties had sent letters demanding $300 per month for the continued use.

After Selk ignored the letters, how did the court decide?

Answer 4

A tenant who holds over after the expiration of a lease impliedly agrees to a landlord’s demand for increase in rent if the tenant continues in possession without protest

Question 5

Whether a transferred leasehold interest is an assignment, or a sublease depends on….

Answer 5

The intent of the parties (Abernathy v. Adous)

Question 6

T/F: The majority of States allow landlords to require consent before a sublease or assignment can go forward.

Answer 6

True (Kendall v. Pastana)

Question 7

What is the “trend rule” adopted by the court in Reid v. Mutual of Omaha Insurance? (relates to collecting unpaid rent)

Answer 7

A landlord who wants unpaid rent, must take commercially reasonable steps to mitigate losses

There has to be positive steps taken by the landlord to mitigate, not passive

Has to be reasonable for the given market

Question 8

When a landlord breaches a covenant, may a tenant leave without continuing to pay?

Answer 8

Petroleum Collections, Inc. v. Swords

The tenant is free to leave without continuing to pay
The landlord has “constructively evicted” the tenant by breaching the covenant

Question 9

A landlord has an obligation to keep the properties in livable or tenantable conditions, this is known as?

Answer 9

Implied Warranty of Habitability

Question 10

If a landlord breaches the Implied Warranty of Habitability, and doesn’t remedy whatever is causing the health & safety hazard, what may a tenant do?

Answer 10

(1) Stop paying rent (rent is abated from the point the tenant was deprived of full use of the premises)

(2) Move out (not responsible for rent from the point in which the premises became untenantable)

Question 11

T/F: The implied warranty of habitability is completely waivable

Answer 11

False - although individual things can be waived (like a leaky garage)