Flooded apartment?
Your lease will determine next move
Should flooded-out apartment dwellers get their current unit repaired, move to a different unit within the same complex or seek lodging elsewhere?
It depends on the circumstances. Most of the details to be worked out between tenants and landlords typically are governed by a lease.
“Everything is a case-by-case basis,” said Houston attorney Brian Cweren, whose Cweren Law Firm represents landlords. “The landlord may be in agreement with the resident. They may both want to cancel that lease out. If they both want to do it, they have the right to do that.”
With as many as 120,000 apartment units across the region damaged in Hurricane Harvey-related flooding, he urged both sides to be reasonable.
“If you’re a landlord and someone’s got minor damage, give them a small discount to put up with the inconvenience,” Cweren said. “If you’re a tenant and you’ve had a long-term relationship with your landlord, don’t do something to hurt that relationship.”
Harvey Jacobs, a Marylandbased attorney who has written a column on housing laws, addressed affected tenants who now may be wondering if they still have to pay rent if their apartments are so badly damaged they’re not inhabitable:
“These obligations are subsumed in what is often called the Warranty of Habitability and/or the Covenant of Quiet Enjoyment. These warranties and covenants can be actually stated in the lease expressly or implied. Even if these clauses are not expressly contained in one’s lease, most state’s courts have imposed this implied duty on the landlord. If the landlord fails to perform its duty under these warranties or covenants, then the tenant’s performance (i.e., paying rent) is typically excused. Of course since the place is “uninhabitable” and/or the covenant of quiet enjoyment has been breached, the tenant must also move out.”