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Landlord and Tenant Law
Majority of the states and a number of localities have codified several lease law provisions and special enactments into a body of statutes called landlord-tenant law. Landlord and tenant law is applicable to leasing of residential areas, such as apartments, homes, and many others. It particularly defines some of the legal relationships between the landlord and the tenant. While the lease law was enacted largely for the benefit of the landlord, the landlord-tenant law tends to focus on the rights of the tenants, including their obligations to the landlord.
Some states have elected to pass with some modifications a law similar to the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (URLTA). This model law, created by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, is aimed to clarify and standardize the landlord-tenant laws of states, and to provide protection to both tenants and landlords in residential leases. While URLTA is generally applicable only to residential leasing, the Act also recognizes hotels, motels and mobile home lots as exceptions to the rule.
The Act deals with issues such as the landlord's right of reentry to the leased premises, landlord's responsibilities to maintain and ensure the habitability of the leased property, procedures for handling security deposits, tenant's protection from landlord's retaliation due to tenant complaints, prohibition of exculpatory clauses that allow the landlord to evade liability, and prohibition of judgment clauses by which tenants waive their rights or legal remedies.
For states that have not adopted URLTA into their statutes, they generally have other laws that cover most of the same provisions. These laws, however, may not be as favorable to the tenant as the URLTA. Some of these laws also provide more stringent statutes governing the rights of the tenants. You must verify whether your state has a landlord-tenant law that considers rent control and the guidelines of withholding rent. You may want to inquire from your lawyer about issues relating to landlord and tenant law.