Landlord–tenant law
Typically, leases will also include the price of rent per month or per term, but this is not legally required.
[6] Modern landlord-tenant law includes a number of other rights and duties held by both landlords and tenants.
The modern interpretation of the tenant-landlord relationship has hinged on the view that leases include many elements of contract law in addition to a simple conveyancing.
In American landlord-tenant law, many of these rights and duties have been codified in the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.
States, counties, and cities have different laws, and likewise, varying levels of protections for the tenants and landlords of commercial spaces.
[13] In some states, the tenant has the right to cancel the lease and move out if the defects are severe enough and the landlord has not made repairs in a reasonable amount of time.
Leases include dependent covenants - if the landlord fails to perform their duties, the tenant will be relieved of paying rent.
Circuit case Javins v. First National Realty Corp. A landlord cannot evict a tenant in retaliation for reporting health and safety code violations.
The California code 1942.5 defines the legal aspects of its use and further goes on to prohibit Retaliatory eviction, for no less than 180 days, after a series of triggering events.
[18] Some form of protection for tenants against retaliatory eviction is available in 42 State statutes and the District of Columbia laws.
The only eight states without this protection are Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.
If the tenant can prove that an Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection Code rule was violated, they are entitled to double the damages under Wisconsin Law.
This means that a commercial tenant cannot leave a rented property vacant without operating the business for which the lease was made.
It's important to note that short term rentals, such as Air Bnb and Vrbo are not subleases or assignments, but rather they grant a license for people to take possession.
[26] The majority rule is that the landlord will subtract the contract price from fair market value in order to determine damages.
Eviction normally takes the form of a lawsuit, requiring an initial notice to a tenant, followed by court proceedings in which the tenant may contest the eviction and potentially file a counter-claim.At the conclusion of the eviction process, if the landlord prevails, the court will issue an order that the property be restored to the possession of the landlord, and potentially allowing for the forcibly removal of the tenant and any property left on the premises.
In some jurisdictions, and subject to conditions such as limited financial means, a tenant facing eviction may be eligible for legal aid.
[28] Missouri, which follows most of the majority rules, holds that landlords have the right to be unreasonable in their duty to mitigate damages.
For the majority of Texas history, landlord-tenant relationships were governed by principles of old English common law.
Texas tenants leased their property "as is" under the common law doctrine of caveat emptor, Latin for "let the buyer beware.
[33] In that case, the Texas Supreme Court held that all residential leases contain an "implied warranty of habitability."
That is, tenants had the legal right to stop paying rent if the landlord failed to keep the property habitable.
[36] A tenant whose landlord has breached their duty to keep the property habitable has a few different legal options.
They can terminate the lease; they can make the repairs themself and then deduct the cost from a subsequent rent payment; or they could take their landlord to court.
