Housing Law Commons^™

Draftsman: Formulation Of Policy, Carl Schier

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Most low income families rent their living accommodations; for them the lease arrangement is a precarious one at best. It is generally a periodic tenancy from week to week or month to month with the agreement rarely reduced to writing. If the allocation of rights and duties between the parties is spelled out by them at all, it is quite one-sided and normally delineates only what the tenant may and may not do. When there is no written agreement or when the writing is silent as to the obligations of the parties, the common law of landlord and tenant controls, …

Tenant's Attorney: Evaluation Of Impact, Ronald D. Glotta

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The natural question raised by the passage of "Tenant Rights" legislation is whether the new law helps or hinders the practicing attorney representing tenants. In analyzing the package of Tenant Rights Bills enacted in Michigan in 1968 this article will focus on three questions: 1) whether such legislation raises false hopes in being heralded as a major declaration of rights and an effort to solve the problem of housing shortage; 2) whether such legislation actually further oppresses tenants, especially in their exercise of the one effective instrument in their power: collective action; and 3) whether such legislation significantly changes the …

Slumlordism As A Tort--A Brief Response, Joseph L. Sax

Michigan Law Review

Professors Blum and Dunham begin their comment by accusing us of having a new idea. We plead guilty. Our purpose was to demonstrate that accepted principles in analogous areas of law would support a slumlordism action, not to argue that tort law as presently applied would do so. Indeed, our basic intent was to underscore the myopia of existing tort law perspectives.

Slumlordism As A Tort--A Dissenting View, Walter J. Blum, Allison Dunham

Michigan Law Review

The persistence of substandard housing in urban centers stands as a challenge to law. There is a pressing need to re-examine whether prevailing legal doctrines are adequate for dealing with the problem and to suggest new doctrines where the old are found wanting. To their great credit, Joseph L. Sax and Fred J. Hiestand in their article "Slumlordism as a Tort" face up to these tasks boldly and vigorously. They conclude that, under existing conditions, it is imprudent to rely on public authorities to enforce housing codes and it is unlikely that legislatures will place sufficient enforcement powers in private …

Landlord's Duty To Remove Snow And Ice

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Fourteenth Amendment And The State Action Doctrine

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Slumlordism As A Tort, Joseph L. Sax, Fred J. Hiestand

Michigan Law Review

The war against poverty has been fought with rather more vigor than its initiators contemplated. Thus far, however, the major engagements have taken place in the streets of Watts and Chicago, which is not quite what they had in mind. Some, who think it odd that as we pass more laws we get more lawlessness, will perhaps content themselves by observing that the feeding hand is always bitten. Those less easily satisfied have begun to see the need for adopting some legal solutions as far reaching as the problems they are designed to abate; the following article is addressed to …

Open Housing Meets My Old Kentucky Home: A Study Of Open Housing With Special Attention To Implications For Kentucky, Steven L. Beshear, Thomas L. Hindes, M. W. Schryver, Richard O. Stevenson

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Law-State Action: Significant Involvement In Ostensibly Private Discriminations-Mulkey V. Reitman, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

From 1959 through 1963, the California legislature enacted a series of statutes which prohibited racial discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. Most important among these were the Unruh Civil Rights Act, which proscribed racial discrimination by "business establishments of every kind,'' and the Rumford Fair Housing Act, which prohibited such conduct by anyone in the sale or rental of residential housing containing more than four units. Adverse public reaction to these statutes resulted in an amendment to the California constitution15 by means of an initiative measure in the general election of 1964. This amendment, popularly known as Proposition …

Validity Of State Proposition Effectively Repealing Anti-Discrimination Laws, Anon

Washington Law Review

The California Legislature did not attempt to prevent property owners from selecting buyers or tenants on the basis of racial considerations until 1959. Then, by enacting the Hawkins Act and the Unruh Civil Rights Act, the legislature chose to regulate racial discrimination in all business establishments including those involving the selling or renting of residential property and in all publicly assisted housing. Three years later, by enacting the Rumford Fair Housing Act, the legislature extended the regulation of discriminatory conduct to owners of most, but not all, residential property. Plaintiffs alleged that, contrary to the express provisions of the Unruh …

Nondiscrimination Implications Of Federal Involvement In Housing, Jerome B. Ullman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Government enforcement of equal opportunity in all housing, or in all housing connected with the various federal programs discussed in this note, would virtually eliminate the present fear among many whites that the presence of Negroes in the community hurts property values. Even if there were any basis to such a fear, the fact that Negroes had an easily enforceable right to purchase property in all neighborhoods would tend to prevent such price devaluation since the actual presence of Negroes in more and more areas would eventually make all white neighborhoods non-existent. Moreover,the fact that all, or the vast majority …

The Public Housing Administration And Discrimination In Federally Assisted Low-Rent Housing, Jordan D. Luttrell

Michigan Law Review

The Public Housing Administration is the federal agency primarily responsible for the administration of the federally assisted low-rent housing program. Since the expense of constructing low-rent housing unassisted by federal funds is prohibitive for state or local governments, this program accounts for practically all low-rent housing in the United States. Consequently, PHA has exercised, and continues to exercise, substantial influence on the development of the nation's low-rent housing.

Fair Housing Laws And Brokers' Defamation Suits: The New York Experience, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

The New York Law Against Discrimination, originally enacted in 1945 to eliminate discrimination in employment because of race, creed, color, or national origin, has been steadily broadened to encompass discrimination in such areas as public accommodations and private housing. The law was amended in 1961 and 1963 to enable the State Commission for Human Rights to prevent. discrimination by either the owner or the real estate broker in the selling, renting, or leasing of any housing accommodation or commercial space. Despite the apparently broad protection established by the sweeping language of the statute, real estate brokers have discovered a novel …

Substandard Housing: The New Pennsylvania Rent Withholding Act As A Solution, Frank Intrieri, Samuel Pasquarelli

Duquesne Law Review

In many large cities the problem created by substandard housing seems nearly insurmountable. These slums constitute physically rundown and neglected dwellings where little or no sanitary or other facilities exist. The 1950 census of housing indicated that 18.7 percent of all urban dwelling units were either dilapidated or lacked a flush toilet or private bath for exclusive use. In essence, most of these individual and collective units can be factually certified as "unfit for human habitation," yet these areas and dwellings are inhabited.

Bias In Housing: Toward A New Approach, Charles E. Rice

Journal Articles

The problem of racial discrimination in housing is the product of several factors. Among these is racial prejudice on the part of private land owners, real estate brokers, builders and mortgage finance institutions.

Enforcement Procedure Of Oberlin, Ohio, Fair Housing Ordinance Held Unconstitutional--Porter V. City Of Oberlin, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff, a citizen of Oberlin, Ohio, brought an action for declaratory and injunctive relief to review the constitutionality of the city's fair housing ordinance, which makes it a misdemeanor to discriminate because of race, creed, or color in the sale or rental of housing. Under the procedure established by the ordinance, the Housing Renewal Commission is directed to make investigations of complaints filed with it. If violations are discovered, the commission must attempt to eliminate the discriminatory practices by conciliation and persuasion. If these efforts fail, the entire record of the matter must be forwarded to the city council, accompanied …

Condominium--Tax Aspects Of Ownership, Richard R. Mcdowell

Vanderbilt Law Review

The ancient concept of condominium ownership has been revived in this country as an answer to the increasing demand for adequate urban housing. The advantages of individual home ownership have had to be subordinated by many families in favor of the convenience of apartment rental. A partial answer to this problem has been found in the creation of cooperative apartments, but this device still leaves much to be desired.' It was not until Puerto Rico achieved its initial success with condominiums that the advantages of this form of home ownership fully came to the attention of this country. To encourage …

Prior Lien On Rents And Profits Upheld As A Method Of Financing Repairs- In Re Dep't Of Bldgs., Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Official findings of the New York Legislature in 1962 revealed the existence in certain cities of housing conditions which, unless immediately corrected, might cause irreparable damage to buildings or endanger the life, health and safety of their occupants or the general public. To facilitate the correction of these conditions and to increase the supply of adequate, safe dwelling units, the legislature enacted the 1962 Receivership Law, which creates a procedure enabling a city to enforce its housing codes by compelling needed repairs and improvements.

Conservation And Rehabilitation Of Housing: An Idea Approaches Adolescence, J. Michael Warren

Michigan Law Review

From the time of construction, buildings are subject to the physical elements, the wear and tear of time, and the constant march of progress which transforms yesterday's luxuries into today's necessities. Left unchecked, these forces tend to produce the slums and blight that traditionally have been the curse of urban areas. Private, charitable, and civic organizations were the first to deal with the problem of improving conditions in slum areas. Later, state and local governments joined the effort, and although they were somewhat more successful than the pioneers in the field, without federal assistance the task proved to be beyond …

New Approaches By The Fpc / Scope Of Judicial Review, Charles E. Mccallum, Joel Porter

Vanderbilt Law Review

New Approaches By the FPC to the Regulation of Natural Gas Producers: an Evaluation

Since 1954 the independent producers of natural gas have been regulated by the Federal Power Commission, operating under the Natural Gas Act' as construed by the Supreme Court in the Phillips case. The results of this regulatory activity have been frustration and delay. Recently the Commission has taken steps to relieve some of its miseries. It has instituted a new approach to producer regulation, area pricing,and it has by regulation outlawed the use of certain contract provisions, indefinite price adjustment clauses, deemed especially harmful to the …

Condominium--Home Ownership For Megaopolis?, John E. Cribbet

Michigan Law Review

The past year, 1962, witnessed no let up in the cold war between East and West. In the race for the conquest of space, in the battle of national rates of economic growth, in the propaganda struggle to fix the responsibility for nuclear testing, in the trial of strength over Cuba, and in countless other areas, each bloc leader continued to measure achievement against the rival's successes or defeats. The cold war is a deadly business and produces little to warm the cockles of a man's heart, but, if only the threat of nuclear destruction could be averted, there is …

Constitutional Law--State Action--Real Estate Discrimination, Donald S. Muir

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Comment On Damages In Unlawful Detainer Actions In Washington, Cornelius J. Peck

Washington Law Review

One might hope that the damage aspects of litigation under a statute enacted in 1891 would now be so well explored and thoroughly understood as to be beyond the area of current comment. However, the product of the years has been an accumulation of inconsistent and ambiguous statements as well as a few instances of obvious conflict between decisions, all of which goes to make a review appropriate. Moreover, a recent decision of the supreme court in a case which has already been noted in these pages holds that set-offs and counterclaims cannot be adjudicated in unlawful detainer proceedings—a holding …

Racial Minority Housing In Washington, Arval A. Morris, Daniel B. Ritter

Washington Law Review

O'Meara v. Washington State Bd. Against Discrimination\ called upon the Washington Supreme Court to pass for the first time on the constitutionality of Washington's Anti-Discrimination Statute. The court invalidated the portion applicable to housing. This comment discusses the social and legal contexts in which the case was decided, the disposition of the case at the trial and appellate levels, and the merit of some alternative measures for preventing discrimination in housing.

Landlord And Tenant—Unlawful Detainer—Set-Off's & Counterclaims, Evan L. Schwab

Washington Law Review

In Young v. Riley the Washington Supreme Court cited a broken line of decisions, called them "unbroken," and held that set-off's and counterclaims cannot be adjudicated in unlawful detainer actions.

Constitutional Law - Equal Protection - Racial Discrimination And The Role Of The State, William C. Griffith S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Constitutional history from the 1857 Dred Scott decision to the 1954 Brown decision records "a movement from status to contract" for the American Negro. Although uncertainty clouds the definition of "state action," the civil rights of the Negro under the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment have been clearly established. The Negro citizen has arrived; the Negro minority group remains one of the gravest social problems of twentieth century America. De facto school segregation, limited economic opportunity, and inadequate housing are problems not solved by invocation of the fourteenth amendment or incantation of the Declaration of Independence. Solution, …

Greenberg: Race Relations And American Law, Spencer L. Kimball

Michigan Law Review

A Review of RACE RELATIONS AND AMERICAN LAW. By Jack Greenberg.

Banks And Banking- Housing And Home Finance - Scope Of Insurance Coverage Of Banks Under National Housing Act, Robert L. Mclaughlin

Michigan Law Review

Borrower executed a promissory note to dealer payee, who assigned it to defendant bank. After default by borrower, plaintiff United States paid to defendant the unpaid balance in accordance with the terms of their insurance contract under Title I of the National Housing Act. The note was then transferred to plaintiff for collection. In an action by the United States against the borrower for the amount due, it was held that the note could not be enforced because of fraudulent misrepresentation by the dealer in acquiring the note, of which the insured bank and transferee government had constructive knowledge. Plaintiff …

Real Property - Mortgages - Liability Of Mortgagee Of Lessee's Term For Rent, Michael B. Lewiston S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Respondent leased a building to South Texas Kitchens, Inc., for a term of five years. The lessee became indebted to petitioner and, being unable to meet this obligation, transferred its business assets and lease to petitioner as security. Petitioner was authorized to manage the business and to apply all proceeds to discharge the indebtedness, the transfer to terminate when the debt was fully paid. Petitioner went into possession of the premises and operated the business for about six months, paying the rent during that period. It then vacated the property and ceased making rental payments. Respondent sued petitioner and the …

Constitutional Law - Civil Rights - Recent New York City Ordinance Bans Discrimination In Certain Private Housing Facilities, W. Stanley Walch

Michigan Law Review

A recent New York City ordinance is the first anti-discrimination legislation affecting the sale and rental of privately-owned housing to minority groups. The ordinance contains three principal provisions: It (1) forbids racial or religious discrimination by private owners in the selection of tenants or buyers for any "housing accommodation which is located in a multiple dwelling," (2) bans discrimination in the selection of purchasers by a seller of ten or more contiguous housing units, and (3) prohibits the owner or lessor of housing accommodations covered by the ordinance from discriminating because of race or religion in setting the terms of …