Landlord Rights and Responsibilities in Property Law - Essay Sample

Introduction

In property law, the landlord and the tenant have various rights and responsibilities that each one of them has to accomplish. There are different rights and responsibilities that a landlord has to achieve. The rights of the landlord have been developed to protect the real estate investment.

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The first right of a landlord is to be able to access his or her rental property to be able to inspect, repair as well as maintain his premises (Bently & Sherman, 2014). The second right of a landlord is to have the tenant evicted in case he or she damages the rental property. The third right of the landlord is to carefully screen as well as select a tenant to occupy the house without any form of discrimination.

Apart from these rights, there are several responsibilities that the landlord has to perform. One of the duties of the landlord is to make sure that the property is appropriately maintained (Landes & Posner, 2009). In this case, the landlord should make sure that the house in which a tenant is living is kept well. In the event certain damages in the house have not been caused by the tenant, it is the sole responsibility of the landlord to repair these damages so that the house is in good condition.

The other responsibility of a landlord is to make sure that the places where the tenants live is safe. In this case, safety measures should be put in place (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013). Different methods of maintaining the safety of the property can be used, such as hiring a security guard to look after the premises, installing surveillance cameras, and fitting sturdy doors and windows with grills that will prevent burglary (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013).

The third responsibility of a landlord is to maintain the cleanliness of the compound that the tenants are living. This approach will ensure that the tenants will be free from any health condition that may be caused to due unclean conditions.

On the other hand, the tenants are entitled to various rights and responsibilities. The first right of a tenant is to live in a place that is secure and has been repaired well. The second right of a tenant is to be protected from unfair rent as well as unfair eviction (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013). In this case, the landlord should provide a favorable rent to the clients and ensure that they are not extorted. Also, the tenant should not be evicted unfairly but should be given notice beforehand. The third right of a tenant is to have a written argument that will bind with the landlord.

The tenant has specific responsibilities that he or she had to abide by while living in the premise owned by the landlord. According to Aplin, Aplin & Davis (2013) one of the responsibilities of a tenant is to take care of the property. Once the landlord has provided the premises, it is the mandate of the tenant to maintain the property in good condition (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013).

Therefore, the tenant should be keen not to do any damage to the building. Secondly, a tenant is expected to pay the amount of rent within the agreed period, even though there could be some disputes with the landlord due to some repairs (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013).

The third responsibility of the tenant is to pay other charges that have been outlined in the tenant-landlord agreement (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013). Moreover, the tenant is expected to us the house for the right purpose. In this case, when a tenant has rented a house, he or she should use it for living or for the agreed purpose (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013). In the event the landlord founds that the tenant is using the premise for the wrong purpose, he or she has the legal obligation for evicting the tenant.

Legal Duty to Mitigate Damages

In the scenario that has been presented, the landlord rented out the premise to the tenant when it was in good condition and ready for occupation (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013). However, the rain came, and unfortunately, the building started to leak. As the rain continued, the leak became serious that it damaged the furniture that Rodger had. The landlord was reluctant to repair the damaged roof. This act made Rodger angry, and he threw his baseball bat, which hit and damaged the switch.

In this case, the landlord has the legal responsibility of mitigating the damages that is present in the house that the tenant is living. The main responsibility of the landlord is to ensure that the tenant is living in a well-maintained house. Since the tenant but rather natural forces did not cause the damage of the roof, it is the legal responsibility of the landlord to mitigate the damage. However, it is the legal responsibility of the tenant to repair the switch because he damaged it by hitting with a baseball bat.

Legal Grounds for Eviction

In the landlord-tenant agreement, there may arise certain situations that may permit the tenant to be evicted from the property. Mostly, this approach is applied whenever there is a breach of contract. In this case, the landlord may decide to remove Larry because of the problems that have arisen. In the presented scenario, the Landlord does not have the legal grounds to evict Larry (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013).

The main reason why Larry should not be removed from the house is that the problems that have occurred within the building were not as a result of his actions (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013). However, the damage that the building has caused as a result of natural action, and that was rain.

When it rains, it pours; hence, there is no way that the tenant, in this case, would have prevented the damaged from occurring. In this scenario, the landlord does not have the legal grounds to evict the tenant because he did not cause any damage directly. Even the socket that the tenant hit with a baseball bat as a result of the frustrations that had been caused by the landlord, which was not repairing the roof.

Repairing the roof was the responsibility of the landlord; hence, by not preparing it, he was violating the tenant-landlord agreement. Therefore, there is no legal grounds that the landlord can use to evict Rodger from the house. Also, the landlord does not have the legal ground to evict the tenant because he has observed other terms of the contract. For instance, the tenant pays his rent on time, he had not disturbed the neighbors, and he has not moved from the house.

Legal Obligation to Pay the Damages

In the event of damage, there it is required that the person liable should pay for it. In this case, Rodger had requested that the landlord should repair the damage that the rains had caused since that was not his fault (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013). However, the landlord took long to repair the roof, and this made Roger angry to the extent that he threw his baseball bat that hit the switch, which got damages.

In this case, even though Rodger's actions had been caused by the landlord's failure to repair the leaking roof, he was not supposed to behave the way he did and damaged the switch (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013). Therefore, since the switch was damaged directly, it was the obligation of the tenant to pay for that damage since it was him who caused it directly (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013).

On the other hand, Larry would be liable for direct damage. In the scenario, it is the responsibility of the landlord to maintain the house in good condition. This responsibility entails repairing the damages that have not been caused by the tenant. Failure to repair the damages has come along with a negative impact.

The first time that the roof began to leak, Roger thought that it was a minor problem and it would be fixed within a short time (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013). However, it was not so since the land lard delay, and when it rained the second time, a lot of water found its water in the house of the tenant, and the effect was that it damages some of the furniture and other precious items (Aplin, Aplin & Davis, 2013).

As a result, these are the direct damages that have been caused by the land lard failure to repair the leaking roof. Therefore, the landlord is liable to pay for the direct damages because if he had taken heed of the tenants' call and fixed the roof earlier, the other items in the house would not have been damaged.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, renting a property comes along with various rights responsibilities for both the landlord and the tenant. These rights and responsibilities have to be observed and abided to ensure that there is a good landlord-tenant relationship. For instance, the mandate of the landlord is to ensure the tenant lives in a safe and well-maintained place.

On the other hand, the right of the landlord is to have access to the premises to asses and makes sure they are being used for the right purpose. In the event, the house has been rented out to the tenant, and he or she has caused some damages, it is required that the tenant should pay the damages. However, in case the damages have not been caused by the tenant, the landlord has to pay for them.

Moreover, in case the landlord-tenant agreement has been breached, there can be legal grounds for evictions, especially if it is the tenant who has violated the contract. There must be sufficient evidence to show that the tenant violated the agreement before he or she can be evicted out of the premises.

In the event, there are damages within the premise that have been caused by the tenant; he or she has the mandate to pay for them. Moreover, the landlord would be liable for any direct damage that he or she causes to the client. Therefore, in case these events occur, the landlord will have to pay for the direct damages that have been caused.

References

Aplin, T. F., Aplin, T., & Davis, J. (2013). Intellectual property law: text, cases, and materials.Oxford University Press.

Bently, L., & Sherman, B. (2014). Intellectual property law. Oxford University Press, USA.

Landes, W. M., & Posner, R. A. (2009). The economic structure of intellectual property law.Harvard University Press.