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Full-Text Articles in Law
Corporate Consolidation Of Rental Housing & The Case For National Rent Stabilization, Brandon Weiss
Corporate Consolidation Of Rental Housing & The Case For National Rent Stabilization, Brandon Weiss
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
Rental housing in the United States is increasingly owned by corporate landlords that operate under a different set of incentives, behind a level of anonymity previously unavailable, and pursuant to practices that often exacerbate an already precarious housing landscape for tenants. Marketsensitive and nuanced rent stabilization laws have reemerged at the state and local level as a viable policy option to help regulate escalating rents and prevent tenant displacement. These laws, when well drafted, can address outdated critiques of strict rent caps and can complement alternative approaches, like those of the politically popular Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) movement, which …
Examination Of Eviction Filings In Lancaster County, Nebraska, 2019–2021, Ryan Sullivan
Examination Of Eviction Filings In Lancaster County, Nebraska, 2019–2021, Ryan Sullivan
Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications
The study examined and analyzed eviction filings and proceedings in Nebraska, with a specific focus on Lancaster County—the home to the State’s capital, Lincoln. The primary objective of this study is to place eviction proceedings under a microscope to gain a better understanding of the volume of evictions in Nebraska, and whether the statutorily mandated processes are being followed. The study also attempts to capture the impact of certain external factors present during the period examined. Such factors include the COVID-19 pandemic and various eviction moratoria in place during 2020 and 2021, as well as the increased availability of legal …
Survey Of State Laws Governing Fees Associated With Late Payment Of Rent, Ryan Sullivan
Survey Of State Laws Governing Fees Associated With Late Payment Of Rent, Ryan Sullivan
Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications
The Survey contains both a cumulative and detailed account of the laws of each state governing late fees and penalties associated with late payment of rent involving residential tenancies. States that impose late fee maximums vary greatly on the amount and form of the limitation—some limit the late fee to a certain percentage of the rental amount, a few states impose a dollar amount maximum, and several states impose both. Some states, rather than limiting the late fee to a certain amount, only require that the late fee be “reasonable.” Additionally, a handful of states mandate that late fees can …
Survey Of State Laws Governing Continuances And Stays In Eviction Proceedings, Ryan Sullivan
Survey Of State Laws Governing Continuances And Stays In Eviction Proceedings, Ryan Sullivan
Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications
The Survey contains both a cumulative and detailed account of the laws and rules of each state governing continuances, adjournments, and stays in residential eviction proceedings. The Survey compares the laws of each state on several aspects, including the standard for obtaining a continuance, the allowable length of the continuance, whether a bond must be paid, and any other restriction or limitation placed on the party seeking to continue an eviction proceeding. The Survey also includes a listing of state statutes that provide a residential tenant a right to redeem the property upon payment of rent prior to the execution …
Paradoxes, Parallels And Fictions: The Case For Landlord Tort Liability Under The Revised Uniform Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, Shelby D. Green
Paradoxes, Parallels And Fictions: The Case For Landlord Tort Liability Under The Revised Uniform Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, Shelby D. Green
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
In this article, I show how a coherent legal narrative must capture the revolution's radical policy by abandoning the no tort liability rule, which can be done in a number of ways: an open acknowledgement that the duty to repair creates a new property right that must be enforced by a property rule or more subtly through the use of both traditional and modern tools of jurisprudence, that is, legal fictions, equitable maxims and economic efficiency analysis. This article proceeds with a discussion of the common law landlord-tenant law, the adoption of the implied warranty of habitability, along with the …
Article 9 And The Characterization And Treatment Of Tenant Security Deposits, R. Wilson Freyermuth, William H. Henning
Article 9 And The Characterization And Treatment Of Tenant Security Deposits, R. Wilson Freyermuth, William H. Henning
Faculty Publications
Each day, thousands of lessees enter into contracts under which they lease either real or personal property. Under the majority of these contracts, the lessee agrees to pay (and does pay) a "security deposit" to the lessor. The lessor typically agrees to refund the deposit at the conclusion of the lease term if the lessee fully performs its obligations under the lease contract. Is Article 9 relevant to this transaction? Has the lessor taken a "security interest" in the lessee's property to secure the lessee's obligations under the lease contract?
In Part I, we highlight two opinions representative of the …
Stop Shutting The Door On Renters: Protecting Tenants From Foreclosure Evictions, Eloisa Rodriguez-Dod
Stop Shutting The Door On Renters: Protecting Tenants From Foreclosure Evictions, Eloisa Rodriguez-Dod
Faculty Publications
This article discusses existing and proposed federal and state law affecting tenants’ rights in foreclosure. As “Foreclosure” signs rapidly join “For Sale” signs across the country, the national foreclosure crisis has not only displaced homeowners, but a plethora of renters as well. The approach taken by states concerning tenants affected by foreclosure varies greatly. Furthermore, a recently enacted Federal law, created specifically to help tenants in foreclosure, does not relieve the uncertainty in resolving this issue. In addition to being the first to critique the new federal law, this article offers recommendations for legislation that may better protect tenants from …
Lease Disclaimers And Landlord Fraud Mcclain V Octagon Plaza, Llc (2008), Roger Bernhardt
Lease Disclaimers And Landlord Fraud Mcclain V Octagon Plaza, Llc (2008), Roger Bernhardt
Publications
This article discusses a California case where a lease disclaimer did not insulate the landlord from liability for fraud, or even from claims of negligent misrepresentation.
Willful Drivel, Roger Bernhardt
Willful Drivel, Roger Bernhardt
Publications
This article covers California real estate transactions where “willfulness” determines liability. Six areas are included in the discussion: landlord and tenant relations, landowners, real estate sales, homeowner associations, construction, and loans.
Landlord Liability For Assaults On Tenants: Saelzler V Advanced Group, 2001, Roger Bernhardt
Landlord Liability For Assaults On Tenants: Saelzler V Advanced Group, 2001, Roger Bernhardt
Publications
This article discusses a California case which held an assault victim had failed to prove that lack of security at an apartment building resulted in entry of assailants and proximately caused her assault.
Landlords’ Duties To Protect Tenants From Crime: Valencia V Michaud, 2000, Roger Bernhardt
Landlords’ Duties To Protect Tenants From Crime: Valencia V Michaud, 2000, Roger Bernhardt
Publications
This article discusses a California case which held that a landlord has a duty to take minimally burdensome steps to remove an unauthorized guest from an apartment building if his behavior poses a likelihood of violent crime on the premises.
Nonrefundable Tenant Security Deposits: Kraus V Trinity Mgmt., 2000, Roger Bernhardt
Nonrefundable Tenant Security Deposits: Kraus V Trinity Mgmt., 2000, Roger Bernhardt
Publications
This article discusses and analyzes a California Supreme Court case which held that restitution is the only monetary remedy for improper security deposits.
One Bite Is Enough, Roger Bernhardt
One Bite Is Enough, Roger Bernhardt
Publications
This article discusses California landlord’s liability for a dog bite occuring four blocks from the premises where the tenant kept the animal.
Tenant Remedies For Breach Of Habitability: Tort Dimensions Of A Contract Concept, Jim Smith
Tenant Remedies For Breach Of Habitability: Tort Dimensions Of A Contract Concept, Jim Smith
Scholarly Works
This article advances the premise that the hybrid contract-property model of leases may be appropriate to provide flexible choices for many areas of landlord-tenant law and, perhaps, may be suitable as a general model, but that it has failed as applied to the question of the tenant's remedies for breach of the warranty of habitability. As applied to remedies, the contract-property hybrid is a false dichotomy, or perhaps more accurately, the wrong dichotomy. The proper analysis of tenant remedies when the landlord breaches the habitability duty requires that a line be drawn between the tort duties and the contract duties …
The Common-Law Conception Of Leasing: Mitigation, Habitability, And Dependence Of Covenants, John A. Humbach
The Common-Law Conception Of Leasing: Mitigation, Habitability, And Dependence Of Covenants, John A. Humbach
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Property law may be the most eternal of secular law. Its basic precepts and conceptions are largely stable and long settled. An aspect of property law undergoing notable change, however, is the law of landlord and tenant. The most important recent change in landlord-tenant law involves the reversal of responsibility for the quality of leased premises. In place of the tenant's traditional burden of caveat emptor and duty of repair, many courts now recognize an implied warranty of habitability, at least for residential tenancies. These same courts typically reject the traditional doctrine that mutual obligations in leases are "independent," that …
Landlord's Remedies When The Tenant Abandons: Property, Contract, And Leases, Sarajane N. Love
Landlord's Remedies When The Tenant Abandons: Property, Contract, And Leases, Sarajane N. Love
Scholarly Works
Because the current remedial scheme represents a blend of property and contract Law, an adequate assessment requires delving into the property framework that existed before its revamping by contract. In part II, therefore, the focus will be on the remedial options traditionally associated with property law.... Part III will examine the significant contract doctrines in this area of the law -- breach by anticipatory repudiation and the avoidable consequences rule. An important concern is whether the contract and property rules have been or can be melded together in an overall remedial scheme that is conceptually understandable and practically consistent in …
Can Distraint Stand Up As A Landlord’S Remedy?, Gerald Korngold
Can Distraint Stand Up As A Landlord’S Remedy?, Gerald Korngold
Articles & Chapters
Though a landlord's right of seizure is well established in the common law and provided for by the laws of many states, some federal courts have found distraint procedures to be incompatible with Fourteenth Amendment due process requirements. This article examines the constitutionality and validity of the present Pennsylvania distraint statute, surveys the cases dealing with the issue, and reviews some recent decisions concerning due process which are relevant to the determination of the statute's constitutionality. The Pennsylvania experience can serve as an example for practitioners in other jurisdictions since, most of them have had few, if any, cases concerning …
Landlord Control Of Tenant Behavior: An Instance Of Private Environmental Legislation, John A. Humbach
Landlord Control Of Tenant Behavior: An Instance Of Private Environmental Legislation, John A. Humbach
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
The present Article suggests that the problem of incompatible neighboring tenants can be most efficiently and "justly" dealt with by permitting a substantial degree of landlord control over tenant behavior-with the removal of offending tenants, at the landlord's instance, being the most effective sanction of ultimate recourse in the effectuation of such control. For some courts, ceding this power of control to landlords would require a measure of constraint which they may find uncustomary or even distasteful. As institutions charged with doing justice, the courts' instinct to intervene in the norm-creating process is undoubtedly great, even when the parties before …