Since time in memorial, people have been entering into vast types of contracts in their routine endeavors. A good example of such a contract is the landlord-tenant agreement. This kind of deal is reached whenever a person rents a house or an apartment from private individuals or commercial agencies. The landlord or rather the leaser may rightfully be owning the condo. However, once a lessee enters into a contract with the leaser, the lessee will be guaranteed some form of ownership of the property as long as the agreement is still valid. In that respect, the tenant will be entitled to certain franchises and responsibilities that ought to be clearly indicated in the contract. In some instances, the rights given to the lessee may prevent unauthorized people including the landlord from accessing the building.
Nevertheless, whenever there is an emergency or need for furnishing the apartment, the leaser can be permitted to access the residential area. It should be noted that both the landlord and the tenant have privileges and obligations that need to be clearly stated in the agreement they enter. Understanding such rights and obligations is the first step in ensuring the two parties establish a lasting relationship irrespective of the environment (Residential or Commercial) (Beatty & Samuelson, 2015). Therefore, to mediate the crisis between Larry (the landlord) and Roger (the Tenant), this paper shall start by highlighting the rights and responsibilities that both parties have prior to delivering its verdict on the matter.
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Franchises and Obligations of the Leaser
Once the property owner and the tenant have reached an agreement, the leaser will have some duties fulfill. The leaser will be expected to transfer the possession of the property to the lessee during the initial stages of the leasing. That implies that landlord will have to ensure that the property is in good condition. The landlord has to guarantee habitability. This means that the leaser is obligated to provide a premise that is fit for occupation. In other words, the premise ought to be safe and defects free. Notably, the tenant must be guaranteed the availability of water, good drainage, professional wiring and proper ventilation.
The leaser needs to permit the tenant to use the property to serve his/her interests as evidenced in the contract. As mentioned earlier, the landlord has no rights to interfere with the activities of the tenant. The leaser needs to respect the franchises of the lessee. This means that landlords ought to cease activities that might interfere with the routine occupation of the lessee. That may include unwelcome visits. Prior to visiting the premise, the landlord ought to give a lesser a 24-hour notice (Beatty & Samuelson, 2015). From a virtue ethics point of view, it would be out of order for the leaser to discriminate the tenant on race, age, gender, and religious grounds.
In some cases, the tenant may not be paying rent or may be violating the agreement terms. In such instances, the landlord has the right to evict the lessee. Prior to doing that, the leaser would be required to give the tenant a 30 days’ notice to relocate from the premise. Once the notice expires and the lessee has not vacated the premises, the law allows the property owner to evict the tenant (Beatty & Samuelson, 2015). That would be after the landlord has written a letter to inform the tenant of his/her intentions to force him/her out of the premise for not paying rent. The law also permits the landlord to use part of the initial deposit to conduct repairs and give the remaining amount to the lessee (Johnson, 2015). Besides, when a tenant violates some terms of the lease such as having pets when the agreement clearly indicates that pets are prohibited within the premise. In such instances, the landlord has the right to evict a tenant for violating the lease terms.
Privileges and Duties of Lessee
Primarily, the lessee has the franchise to a habitable premise. That is an implication the leaser has to ensure that he/she provides a tenant with an apartment that is properly done. According to Johnson (2015), a poorly done premise puts the lives of inhabitants at risk. Actually, the tenant is required to do a regular inspection of various facilities on the premises and report to the landlord where the situation appears to be risky. The leaser will then be required to address the matter by conducting his/her inspection and getting professionals to fix the situation. The lessee can also take to his/her initiative to repair some damages he/she may or might not have caused. Nevertheless, it would be imperative for the tenant to inform the landlord of his/her intention before commencing the repair. Besides, a tenant would also be required to seek services of a lawyer to ascertain the legal implication of handling the matter at hand. Beatty & Samuelson, (2015) state that the law provides landlords with a particular time address problems in their premises. Whenever the lease fails to respond within the stipulated time, the tenant can initiate repairs and the amount spent ought to be compensated.
The tenants are supposed to use the premise for the right purpose. Basically, if a premise was acquired for residential purpose, it should be strictly used to serve that purpose. Additionally, the tenants will be expected to pay the rent on time as specified in the contract. Failure to pay the rent will attract some penalties as stipulated in the contract. The Florida Legislature (2016) indicates that such instances may force one to pay extra money as a penalty. The tenant is also not expected to damage anything within the premise including the premise itself. Damage to the premise would imply deductions have to be made from the initial deposit to cater for the damage (The Florida Legislature, 2016). Furthermore, the behavior of the tenant is also checked. The lessee is expected to behave in a way that does not cause disturb the peace of other people in the same environment. Behaviors that affect people within the locality are prohibited in most premises and may attract legal punishment. The landlord will also opt to evict the tenant before the contract expires.
Verdict on the Matter
Larry (the landlord) and Roger (the Tenant) have violated the agreement terms that bound them. To begin with, the leaser failed to address the problem in his property despite the fact that the tenant had informed him in time. As mentioned earlier, the landlord is expected to ensure that the premise he/she avails to a lessee is habitable. That implies that it ought to be fit and free from damages. However, it is apparent that Larry failed to be responsible. He probably knew the house was not in good condition to be inhabited. Besides, after being informed about the leakage he failed to respond in time. Failure to respond in time led to the destruction of valuable properties of the lessee. According to Johnson (2015), the property owner ought to compensate the tenant since that is a fail on his responsibility.
Apparently, Roger played his part by informing the landlord about the leaking roof. It is also true that he needs to be compensated by Larry. Nevertheless, his decision to hit and damage the wall with a baseball bat in response to Larry’s comment was not right. As Johnston (2015) puts it, it would have been better if Roger would seek legal assistance on the matter. In doing so, the law would have permitted him to fix the leak and later demand reimbursement from the landlord. Nevertheless, prior to him fixing the problem, he ought to write a letter informing Larry about his intentions to repair the leak.
Roger’s actions violated the contract agreement. The tenant is not expected to damage the premise in any circumstance whatsoever. Jonson (2015) indicated that tenants are accountable for any damage they cause on a premise. Owing to Roger’s actions, a specific among of money needs to be deducted from his initial deposit to cater for the damage he caused on the wall with the baseball bat (The Florida Legislature, 2016). However, it would not be right to evict him since his actions were provoked by Larry’s response over the phone. Besides, he was asking for his rights that are well stipulated in the contract. The landlord needs to be blamed for roger’s actions. If he would have taken the initiative to repair the leak on time the damage on the wall and the electric socket would never have happened. He violated the agreement by shunning away from his responsibility.
In addition, prior to moving into the house, Roger asked whether the roof was leaking or not. It is as if Larry lied to him because immediately it started raining, leaking was massive. That is a shortcoming on the landlord’s side. In that respect, it would not be fair to evict Roger. Besides, eviction requires the tenant to be given a 30 days’ notice. On the other hand, Larry cannot write Roger an eviction letter due to the damage that he has caused on the wall and the sockets. That is because Roger can legally fight him back by proving the damage that the leaking has caused to him. Besides, he can use the court of law to extract evidence from the conversations he had with the landlord. In fact, if Larry opts to evict Roger he might find himself in a very challenging situation that might damage his reputation.
In conclusion, a contract is essential in ensuring that parties involved in signing the contract adhere to the terms and conditions in it. A successful relationship in this regards will be determined by how the parties abide by the set regulations. A leaser-lessee contract is one of the agreements that depend on how well the two parties understand their rights and obligations. The lessee, for instance, has the right to get a habitable premise thus he/she gets ownership of an apartment from the property owner. The landlord thus needs to ensure that he/she gives a premise that is in good condition and does not risk the life of the inhabitants.
After acquiring a property, a tenant is expected to use the premise for the intended purpose. Additionally, he/she needs to be responsible for ensuring that he/she pays rent in time and does not destroy the property. The landlord on the other hand still remains to be the rightful owner of the property. Nevertheless, he/she is not expected to interfere with the activities of the tenant. Any incident that may seem to violate the agreement in the contract leads to its termination. That includes instances where a tenant fails to pay rent or acts in a manner that violates the contract or where the landlord shuns away from his/her responsibilities. However, when both parties understand their rights and responsibilities, a good relationship will be fostered that would guarantee the success of the agreement.
References
Beatty, F. J. & Samuelson, S. S. (2015). Introduction to Business Law (5th Edition) Cengage Learnings. ISBN: 128586039X (1-285-86039-X).
Johnson, E. (2015). Oregon State Bar: Rights and Duties of Tenants. Retrieved from https://www.osbar.org/public/legalinfo/1246_RightsDutiesTenants.htm
The Florida Legislature (2016). The 2016 Florida Statutes . Retrieved from http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0083/0083.html
