A residential tenant stops paying rent after the landlord ignores two months of written requests to repair a furnace that failed in mid-winter. The tenant stays in the unit and defends the landlord's suit for the unpaid rent. Which doctrine most directly supports the tenant's defense?
Correct Answer
C) Implied warranty of habitability
The implied warranty of habitability requires a residential landlord to deliver and maintain premises fit to live in, and heat in winter is a core element of that standard. Because the tenant remains in possession, it is the breach of that warranty, not any form of eviction, that reduces or excuses the rent obligation. Constructive eviction arises from the same kind of landlord failure but requires the tenant to actually surrender possession because the premises became unusable.
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Related Topics & Key Terms
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Related Concepts
Tenancy in common is a form of co-ownership in which two or more persons hold separate, undivided interests in property without the right of survivorship. Each owner can hold unequal shares and can independently transfer their interest.
A freehold estate conveys ownership rights, while a leasehold estate grants the right to possess and use property for a specific period without ownership.
Riparian rights concern properties bordering flowing bodies of water (rivers, streams), while littoral rights concern properties bordering non-flowing bodies of water (lakes, oceans).
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Previous Question
A tenant signs a written lease for a downtown apartment. The lease is silent about the condition of plumbing, heating, electrical, and structural systems. Two months in, the apartment's hot water heater fails. The tenant reports the failure, and applicable state law requires the landlord to repair the heater regardless of any lease silence — because residential leases automatically carry an obligation to keep the premises fit for ordinary residential living, an obligation the law treats as built into every such lease whether written into the contract or not. Which legal doctrine obligates the landlord to make the repair despite the lease's silence?
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Which of the following is a landlord's remedy rather than a tenant protection?