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Real Property • Landlord-Tenant
PROP#078
Legal Definition
Under common law, a landlord has no duty to repair or maintain their property. However, these days, a landlord will generally be obligated to maintain a minimum level of habitability suitable for humans.
Plain English Explanation
This one takes a bit of explanation. Let's jump in our imaginary time machines and go back to the birth of property law. You see, property law is based on extremely old, extremely outdated laws made long before permanent structures like apartments, homes, and condos were common. In those times, when you leased land you literally only leased the land. If there so-happened to be a structure on it, or some sort of shelter, that was just a bonus. Additionally, landlords didn't often live anywhere near the property they leased.
When you combined these two factors, you basically had a situation where not only did the law not really care about the structure on the property, but it was impractical to expect a landlord to travel days or weeks to visit a property in order to fix a structure on top of it.
However, modern laws have recognized that most people want the structure and not so much the land. As such, there is a general requirement for landlords to ensure that residential properties meet a minimum level of quality fit for humans to live in.
When you combined these two factors, you basically had a situation where not only did the law not really care about the structure on the property, but it was impractical to expect a landlord to travel days or weeks to visit a property in order to fix a structure on top of it.
However, modern laws have recognized that most people want the structure and not so much the land. As such, there is a general requirement for landlords to ensure that residential properties meet a minimum level of quality fit for humans to live in.
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