Mediation of Landlord-Tenant Disputes: New Hope for the Implied Warranty of Habitability
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Authors
Salisich, Peter W. Jr.
Fitzgerald, Patrick W.
Issue Date
1986
Volume
19
Issue
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|The twenty-year revolution in residential landlord-tenant law, epitomized by the implied warranty of habitability, has transformed the law in over forty states, including the member states of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the past three years, Missouri has joined these states with three important, but little-publicized changes. During 1983, the state legislature enacted sweeping changes in the condominium law, which included protections for low income, disabled, and elderly tenants in buildings being converted into condominiums. The legislature also enacted a new statute regulating the use of security deposits. In the spring of 1984, the Missouri Supreme Court acknowledged the changes in attitude, in Detling v. Edelbrock, a case which, by its own admission, was poorly presented. The Detling decision was used as the vehicle for the sweeping declaration that an implied warranty of habitability is included in all residential tenancies in Missouri. This legal doctrine shifts responsibility from the tenant to the landlord for the condition of leased residential premises. Prior to the judicial and legislative activism that began in 1961, a rule similar to the rule of caveat emptor applied to all landlord-tenant relationships. The landlord ordinarily did not promise, expressly or impliedly, that the premises were safe or fit for their intended use...
Description
Citation
19 Creighton L. Rev. 791 (1985-1986)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law