Legal Rights and Responsibilities of Tenants and Landlords
Tenants and landlords have legal rights and responsibilities to one another. This is important in establishing how the two parties can develop a meaningful business relationship. The two parties agree after they have discussed rental agreements from their position. Some of these factors entail parameters such as rent are paid on a monthly basis, and the lease continues without a final date until the landlord or tenant ends it.
Responsibilities of The Tenant
The tenant is the person seeking to enter into a lease with the landlord. The tenant should ensure that they pay their rent-on time (Francis, 2007). This refers to the rent being paid by midnight the due date. The landlord can decide to sue the tenant if they default to pay the rent by midnight of the ninth day after it is due for yearly or month to month leases. Conversely, tenants can also be sued if they fail to pay by midnight of the fourth after the rent it is due. Thus, it is important that the tenant should communicate to the landlord if they will day and get into an agreement regarding the issue.
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The tenant is also required to keep the apartment and the surrounding areas clean and in good condition. This is an important responsibility. Moreover, it ensures that the tenant does not disturb the surrounding people with an awful environment.
Tenants should also keep noise at a reasonable level. This is in a bid to be observant of the environmental laws against pollution and not offend the neighbors. Conversely, they can seek permission from the neighbors if they will be an occasion that will emit too much sound.
Tenants are also required to repair any damage that they may have caused on the building as result of their fault, or it is coming from their family members or guests. More importantly, they should inform the landlord if the damage is a major one (Francis, 2007).
The tenants should also let the landlord know of any problem that may require repair that is not part of their fault. This should be done as soon as possible to aggravate further the problem which may land on them.
Tenants should also permit the landlord to enter the house at reasonably agreed moments to inspect the facility or make any repairs.
Finally, the tenant should give the landlord proper notice when they want to move out from the premise. It is important that the tenant should ensure that the premise is in the right state as was during the period of commencing the tenancy agreement.
Responsibilities of the landlord
Landlord must (Francis, 2007):
Provide a clean environment when the tenant moves in. It should always be clean and as per the requires of public health.
Keep hallways and entryways well lit. This is important for security purposes and also facilitate easy movement and visibility.
Keep plumbing and heating systems working. Moreover, they should ensure that both hot and cold-water running is availed. Stairways, porches, floors, ceilings, and walls should be safe to prevent people from falling and getting injured. Moreover, they should be repaired correctly if they are faulty.
There should be safe fire exits from the building (Francis, 2007).
Provide extermination services if the apartment is infested with pests and rodents.
Comply with regulations regarding weatherization standards and procedures. This is an important discourse for apartments participating in rental assistance programs.
Landlord mitigating Damages
The landlord had the right to mitigate the damages. In essence, he lied at first stance by telling Rogers that the building was not leaking. However, this was not true as it when it rained, Roger’s house was leaking. A tenant must inform the landlord that they should repair the house in case there is a problem. This should be done as immediately as possible. If they fail to report the negative conditions about the property, they can be held liable for any increased damage to the property. This is called mitigating the harm (Groll, n.d.). Perceptively, Roger tenant informed him of the problem which later promised to do something about it. This, however, did not come to pass as it still leaked in the house again when he was away. It became even bigger than it first was and when he still reported nothing happened, and he became more condescending. Thus, the main problem is not Roger rather Larry Landlord. He was informed of the problem in the first instance but decided not to do anything. The bigger problem that has occurred is to blame on the landlord who carries the load of “mitigating the harm.”
Landlord and Tenant Eviction
Larry cannot evict Roger. Markedly, eviction is the only that a landlord can remove a tenant from his property. The eviction can also be called a summary process (Francis, 2007). A tenant can be evicted due to the following reasons:
They have refused to vacate the premise even after expiry of the lease term.
They have not paid rent when due or within the grace period as stipulated by law or tenant-landlord agreement.
Extensive and continuing physical damage to the property.
Violates a term of the lease.
They cause a serious nuisance to the environment and its surrounding, including to the neighbors.
Finally, their rights and privileges to stay in the building have ended.
Perceptively, Roger has not committed any of the above offenses. The only problem per say is telling the landlord that he ought to make repairs to the house, paying him substantial damages caused by his leaking roof, and destroying the wall through throwing a bat. This was only a one-time occurrence and not existing continuing damage to the wall. Thus, Larry has no grounds for which to evict roger.
Tenant and Damages
Roger has the legal right to pay for the damage caused to the wall. Tenants have a responsibility to use care when they live in a property, and there is no license to cause damage to it (Wilkie et al., 2006). On the contrary, they have no reasonable claim to wear and tear, but responsible for deliberate damage, no matter who did it. Proper care to the building begins immediately when they move to the building. There is no other basis for which a tenant can offer as to why they have damaged the property. This can include factors such as they are inexperienced to know what causes damage to property. Damage to the property can be caused by activities such as slamming doors and windows, directing physical objects to the wall, climbing latticework, climbing up and down the drain pipes, but to name a few. Whatever, the problem, it is the duty of the tenant to repair such damage. That being said, Roger is the one who is to repair the damage caused to the wall. Although he claims that the action was initially caused by Larry, who has no direct cause, he is the one to repair the damages.
Landlord and Damages
Larry landlord is also liable to direct damages. At first, Roger has engaged Larry to repair the defective roof to cease leaking. He claimed to act on it but instead did nothing. The coming days, it poured heavily to the extent that the leak grew larger causing a lot of damage to his properties. Notably, the leak damages some of roger’s furniture, clothing, and some precious items which he had inherited from his family. It was the right of the landlord to pay for damages that occurred in the apartment (Wilkie et al., 2006). However, he did not, and thus he is the root cause of the damage to Roger’s property. Roger had the right to enjoy staying at the property had Larry repaired the leaking roof before it got bigger and worse and damaged the property. He failed to ensure that the building is inhabitable state. This is a big injury that affected Rogers’ property and for which the landlord is obligated by the law to fix.
References
Francis, A. (2007). Landlord and Tenant Law.
Groll, R. C. (n.d.). Landlord-Tenant: The Duty to Mitigate Damages. DePaul L. Rev., 17, 311.
Wilkie, M., Cole, G., Luxton, P., & Morgan, J. (2006). Landlord and tenant law. Palgrave Macmillan.
