There were great comments about the landlord from last week’s email. One of my favorite comments was to allow the tenant in the lower unit to move out and charge the other tenant rent for both units. Don’t you just love it!!!

Another email came in from Gail Mulford with Mike Kelly Realty. She is studying for her broker’s license and said, “ It is constructive eviction”. After talking to her and at her suggestion, I googled “Constructive Eviction”

Here is the definition:

The disturbance, by a landlord, of a tenant's possession of premises that the landlord makes uninhabitable and unsuitable for the purposes for which they were leased, causing the tenant to surrender possession.

I,myself leaned toward Quiet Enjoyment and here is that definition:

Quiet enjoyment is a right to the undisturbed use and enjoyment of real property by a tenant or landowner. The right to quiet enjoyment is contained in covenants concerning real estate. Generally a covenant is an agreement between two parties to do or refrain from doing something.

OR

In the covenant of quiet enjoyment, the landlord promises that during the term of the tenancy no one will disturb the tenant in the tenant's use and enjoyment of the premises. Quiet enjoyment includes the right to exclude others from the premises, the right to peace and quiet, the right to clean premises, and the right to basic services such as heat and hot water and, for high-rise buildings, elevator service.

Needless to say, I am not an attorney but an experienced Property Manager. In my opinion, both definitions apply to this situation. It should be left to the Magistrate Judge in the county that this occurred. I think the tenant could easily win. What do you think?

Mountain Manager DOES NOT represent this owner and WILL NEVER represent this owner.