Landlord/Tenant Relationships

Question 1

Leaseholds

Answer 1

right to posses or use property for a specified period to the tenant in return for the tenant’s promise to make a periodic rental payment. When the tenancy is over, possession ordinarily reverts to the landlord unless she has sold the property, conveying her interest to someone else. (relationships are important)

Question 2

Terms of years

Answer 2

• lasts for a agreed period of time. (10 years or 12 months)
• executed by lease
• terminates automatically (but can be terminated before by breach or condition)
• landlord has a reversion
• future interest in third party is a remainder
• liability does not end upon death (you may need to pay debt)

Question 3

Periodic tenancy

Answer 3

• renews automatically
• termination requires notice
• year-to-year or month-to-month tenancies are created during periodic tenancies with no agreed end date.
• commercial leases look like five year to five year leases.
• if a tenant takes possession and pays rent and there is no other enforceable agreement as to the term, by implication the parties have created a periodic tenancy.
• presumption of renewal in NJ

Question 4

Tenancy at will (minority view)(RARE)

Answer 4

• same as PT but can be terminated without a notice by LL or tenant.
• Death terminates the tenancy at will or LL transfers interest.
• time uncertain
• abolished by most states

Question 5

Tenancy at sufferance (Holdover tenant)

Answer 5

• a tenant rightfully in possession who wrongfully stays after the leasehold has expired is called a tenant at sufferance, or a holdover tenant.
• Eviction proceeding or court judgment is required.
• If landlord accepts check, then new tenancy established.
• must re-rent or evict.

Question 6

Procedural regulations

Answer 6

Impose formal requirements for creating the landlord-tenant relationship.

Question 7

Substantive regulations

Answer 7

Define the parties’ obligations to each other; Right to inspect and/or repair, warrant of habitability.

Question 8

Implied warrant of habitability

Answer 8

Requires the landlord to deliver and maintain through the lease, premises that are safe, clean, and fit for human habitation.

*Cannot be waived b/c it is CODIFIED in statutes.

Question 9

Landlord Right to Repair

Answer 9

The Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA) outlines provisions regarding landlord access to rental properties in §3.103.

(a) Consent: A tenant cannot unreasonably withhold consent for the landlord to enter the dwelling unit for various purposes, including inspection, repairs, decorations, services, or showing the unit to prospective buyers, lenders, tenants, workers, or contractors.
(b) Emergency Entry: In case of emergency, a landlord can enter the dwelling unit without the tenant’s consent.
(c) Limitations on Access: Landlords must not abuse the right of access or use it to harass tenants. Except in emergencies or when impracticable, landlords must provide at least two days’ notice before entering the unit and can only enter at reasonable times.
(d) Other Rights of Access: Landlords have no other right of access except:
(1) Pursuant to a court order;
(2) As permitted by Sections 4.202 and 4.203(b), which typically involve entering to address damages caused by the tenant or in cases of extended tenant absence; and
(3) Unless the tenant has abandoned or surrendered the premises

Question 10

State v. Randolph (RULE)(guest was criminal trespass)

Answer 10

if the landlord doesn’t write in the lease agreement that certain people can’t come onto the property, the tenant can still let them in because they have control over the property, unless the landlord specifically says otherwise.
- i.e., landlord’s cedes possessory rights.

Question 11

Effects of Substandard Housing Conditions

Answer 11

substandard conditions damage the physical, emotional, cognitive, and economic well-being of individuals and communities and because substandard housing is experienced primarily by poor people and disproportionately by families of color, the harms of substandard housing also exacerbate health, wealth, and income inequality.

Question 12

Claims tenants can allege for substandard conditions:

Answer 12

violation of implied warranty of habitability; common law torts; consumer protection statutes; or antidiscrimination laws.

Question 13

Javins v. First National Realty Corp. (RULE)(nonpayment for 1,500 violations)

Answer 13

• A warranty of habitability is implied by operation of law into leases of urban dwelling units and breach of this warranty gives rise to the usual remedies for breach of contract.
• This warranty means the landlord has a continuing obligation to maintain the premises according to all applicable law and the tenant’s obligation to pay rent is dependent upon the landlord’s performance of this duty.

Question 14

Examples of violations of Implied warrant of Habitability

Answer 14

Lack of heat or hot water, broken windows, pest infestation, and leaky roofs.

Question 15

Covenant of quiet enjoyment

Answer 15

Implied in every landlord-tenant relationship where the landlord impliedly promises not to disturb the tenant’s quiet enjoyment of the property.

Question 16

Constructive eviction

Answer 16

A “constructive” eviction occurs when the landlord allows the conditions in the apartment to deteriorate such that living in the apartment is impossible or uncomfortable. Her actions are functionally equivalent to physically barring the tenant from the premises.

The defense of constructive eviction allows the tenant to stop rent payments and move out before the end of the lease term.

Question 17

The landlord has the right to transfer her property interest.

Answer 17

New owner must “step into the shoes” of the landlord and the tenant’s leasehold interest survives.

Question 18

Two ways tenant has the right to transfer

Answer 18

(1) Assignment
(2) Sublease

Either with a sublet or assignment, you are required to pay rent unless you get your landlord to sign a consent releasing you from having to pay rent.

Question 19

Assignment

Answer 19

the transfer of the tenant’s entire possessory rights.

Question 20

Sublease (Sublet)

Answer 20

a transfer by a tenant of a portion of its possessory rights under the lease

Question 21

Kendall v. Ernest (RULE) (commercial lease at airport)

Answer 21

Consent may be withheld only where the commercial lessor has a commercially reasonable objection to the assignment. (not arbitrary)

Dissent: takes a strict interpretation of the lease terms, granting the lessor broad discretion in consenting to assignments without the need for commercially reasonable objections.

Question 22

Slavin v. Rent Control (RULE)(tenant assigned lease after cotenant left - not allowed)

Answer 22

residential lease provisions requiring landlord consent for assignment, sublease, or occupancy by others do not inherently include a reasonableness requirement.

Policy considerations: Commercial and residential leases should be treated the same regarding the reasonableness requirement. Residential leases often involve individuals’ homes and basic needs for shelter, whereas commercial leases typically involve business transactions between more equal parties.

Question 23

3 Remedies for LL’s duty to mitigate: (reasonable diligence)(reasonable person stand.)

Answer 23

(1) accept tenant’s surrender + sue (comes w/ possible defense)
(2) re-let - (new rent must be reasonable)
(3) wait and sue at end of lease (abandoned by most jurisdictions)

Question 24

Accept Tenant’s Surrender

Answer 24

Residential leases often involve individuals’ homes and basic needs for shelter, whereas commercial leases typically involve business transactions between more equal parties.

Question 25

Damages for breach of lease

Answer 25

○ Damages are likely to be the agreed-upon rental price minus the fair market price.

○ If the rental price is the same as or below the market price, damages are zero (plus the cost of locating the new tenant).

Question 26

Sommer v. Kridel (RULE)(apt. sits empty)

Answer 26

LL’s must exhibit reasonable diligence in trying to mitigate his damages through re-rent, advertise, or show the apt.

Question 27

“Acceleration Clause” remedy

Answer 27

This remedy allows the LL to obtain the rest of the rent immediately upon breach and, if enforceable, would allow the LL also to rent out the premises to another tenant. (duty to mitigate still enforced)

Question 28

Burden of Proof

Answer 28

LL has the burden to persuade the decision maker that he tried to mitigate damages and to justify the amount lost because of the inability to mitigate. This appears to be the majority rule at least in the case of residential tenancies.

Question 29

Main reasons for eviction

Answer 29

(1) failure to pay rent;
(2) failure to pay rent on time;
(3) violation of other material lease terms

Question 30

Exceptions to non-renewal:

Answer 30

(1) discriminatory motive
(2) retaliation
(3) unless the LL can show just cause

Question 31

Self-Help remedy

Answer 31

Most states hold LL cannot use self-help and LL must evict through court proceedings.

Question 32

Summary process

Answer 32

enables fast-tracked trials, precludes tenants’ ability to raise defenses, bifurcates issues tenant may have w/ landlord even if directly related to the cause of eviction.

Question 33

Lindsey v. Normet (RULE)(refusal to make repairs)(IMPORTANT**)

Answer 33

(1) Statute’s provisions for early trial, restriction of litigable issues, and double-bond req. for appeal do not violate the DP Clause, but the double-bond requirement violates the EP Clause because it discriminates against the poor by effectively foreclosing their right to appeal.

(2) the tenant must continue to pay rent even if the landlord breaches the warranty of habitability - independent obligations.

(3) is there a fund. right attached to this? NO. what role does the home play? “up in the air”

Question 34

Lindsey v. Normet takeaways

Answer 34

(1) If we add all these issues, an efficiency issue could be a problem.
(2) keeping it simple for everyone; LL’s can’t sue for back rent.
(3) property is up to the states

Question 35

Vasquez v. Glassboro (RULE) (migrant worker terminated)

Answer 35

farmworker was not a tenant with a lease b/c “special characteristics of migrant housing, absence of contractual provision for payment of rent, lack of privacy, intermittent occupancy, and interdependence of employment and housing”) BUT should still get benefit of process that tenant gets before being ejected from living quarters (b/c public policy)

Question 36

 Social causes and consequences of eviction

Answer 36

Causes: (1) rent is rising higher than income; (2) medical emergencies; (3) rent eats first.

Consequences: Immediate v. Long-term (1) Involuntary abrupt dislocation; (2) credit & rental history; (3) high chance of substandard housing; (4) affects costs of shelters, hospitalization, public law enforcement, and increase use of public benefits; (5) segregation in housing; (6) political participation.