Landlords
Real Estate | Landlords | Eviction | Rent | Lease with Option | Joint Tenancy
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or land which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called the tenant.
In the United States, landlord-tenant disputes are governed by state law (not federal law) regarding property and contracts. State law and, in some places, city law or county law, sets the requirements for eviction of a tenant. Generally, there is limited number of reasons for which a landlord can evict his tenant. Some cities have laws establishing the maximum rent a landlord can charge, known as rent control.
A rental agreement, or lease, is the contract defining such terms as the price paid, penalties for late payments, the length of the rental or lease, and the amount of notice required before either the landlord or tenant cancels the agreement. In general, the landlord is responsible for repairs and maintenance, and the tenant is responsible for keeping the property clean and safe.
Many landlords hire a property management company to take care of all the details of renting their property out to a tenant. This usually includes advertising the property and showing it to prospective tenants, and then, once rented, collecting rent from the tenant and performing repairs as needed.
Duties of the Landlord
The landlord has two common-law duties. The first is to give the tenant possession of the land; the second is to provide the premises in a habitable condition - there is an implied warranty of habitability. If landlord violates either, the tenant can break the lease and move out, or stay and sue the landlord for damages
The lease also includes an implied covenant of quiet enjoyment - landlord will not interfere with tenant's quiet enjoyment. This can be breached in three ways.
- Total eviction of tenant through direct physical invasion by landlord
- Partial eviction - when the landlord keeping tenant off part of the leased property (even locking a single room). Tenant can stay on the remaining property without paying any rent.
- Partial eviction by someone other than landlord - where this occurs, rent is apportioned. If landlord leases tenant 100 acres of land, but it turns out that 40 of those acres belong to another person, tenant only has to pay 60% of the rent.