Supervising Attorney, Research Paper Example

Legal Project-Internal Memo for Supervising Attorney

The issue

The case is whether the landlord is justified to evict a tenant without an eviction notice.

Facts

The tenant was evicted from the house for hosting loud parties and failing to pay the house rent on time. The eviction was carried out without any notice to the tenant. On moving into the house, the tenant signed an agreement with the landlord that the rent should be paid before the fifth of every month and that there should not be loud music and parties in the premises. At beginning of the tenancy, the landlord paid his rent as agreed and kept the noise at the minimum. However, as time went by, things started to change as he began to pay his rent late and hosting very loud music.

The landlord began punishing the tenant by cutting off his water and electricity supply. On the tenth of February, the landlord had not paid his rent and in the previous weekend, he had hosted a party that had lasted up to very late at night. On coming home in the evening on eleventh, the landlord was shocked to find out that the landlord had changed his locks forcing him to find alternative accommodation for the night. The tenant believes that the landlord treats him unfairly based on his racial background. This is because even though the tenant failed to pay on the agreed date, he had talked to the landlord about his delayed salary, and explained to him that he would be paying by tenth instead of fifth. However, the tenant and the landlord had not reached a written agreement on the matter.

Analysis

In the situation where a landowner and a tenant comes to an agreement on the conditions for renting a premise, whether documented or verbally, a rental agreement is established. The rental contract brings forth the rights of the tenant to occupy the building for a specific period, paying a specific amount of money as rent. Just like any other agreement, the tenancy should be documented to keep away from disagreements that might arise in future. The documented agreement should also comprise all the conditions settled upon between the lessor and the lessee. It is important for the tenant to go through the entire agreement cautiously, understand and seek clarifications for any issue that is not properly understood. The tenant should ensure that all the questions he has concerning the contract are answered satisfactorily (Schwemm, 2001).

There are mistakes that may force the landlord to terminate the contract before it expires. All these mistakes that may warrant eviction should be included in the contract and properly explained to the tenant.  The lawful proceeding where the land owner seeks to terminate tenancy and repossess his or her property is referred to as eviction. A legal eviction allows the landlord to put the lessee out of the property. This is a legal proceeding that takes place faster than any other form of proceeding. It is only the tribunal that can issue the eviction order and only the law enforcement officers can perform the act. In case the tenant fails to vacate the premises at the expiry of his eviction notice, the landlord should seek the help of the law enforcement officers who are supposed to carry out the eviction (Schwemm, 2001).

Most of the federal and state legislations and decrees offer protection to the housing rights. The Federal Housing Act of 1968 asserts that it is unlawful for a house owner to be discriminative of a person on the bases of racial background, gender, culture or religious background (Washington State Bar Association, 2009). According to this law, it is illegal for a landlord to treat a tenant unfairly on the bases of race, gender, culture or religion. In case where the tenant can prove that this is actually what happened, the landlord can be required to compensate the tenant. The landlord has no right to use self-help means to force a tenant put of the premises, his mistakes not withstanding. He cannot cut off the water or electricity supply, change his locks or use any other illegal means to evict a tenant.

Any landlord who carries out such acts is likely to be legally responsible for damages. Every landlord should have justified lawful grounds for wanting to terminate a rental agreement. Section 37 of the Residential Tenancies Act prevents the landlord from utilizing any other form of eviction that is not provided for by the law. Section 24 of the Residential Tenancies Act specifically prohibits landlords from unlawfully locking out tenants from their rented premises. Any landlord who wishes to evict his landlord for bleach of contract or any other disagreement is supposed to follow the legal guidelines outlined by the law of the state. In any case where the landlord makes any mistake in providing eviction notice, the case is usually done away with and the whole process is repeated afresh (Levitt, 2007).

In a situation where the tenant fails to pay the rent on the date specified in the contract, the landlord is meant to give a notice that the rent is outstanding. The landlord should then provide the tenant a particular period that the rent should be settled the rent and any other amount that is likely to be pending as fine specified in a documented leasing contract. It is failure to honor the notice that the tenant should be required to move out of the resident. According to the Ontario Tenancies Act of 2006, after the landlord gives a notice of eviction, it can only take effect fourteen days or seven days if the rent is paid daily or weekly, following the day it is provided. In case the tenant pays the full amount owed to the landlord, then no eviction should be carried out on that particular notice (Levitt, 2007). Where the tenant offers to pay the landlord the rent after expiry of the notice, the landlord does not have to receive the rent. He can still have the tenant vacate his premises. The tenant can also be served with a notice to fix a violation. This is in case of contract violations like loud music, keeping of prohibited pets in the premises, or having more people in the building that allowed on the contract. State law provides the tenant with 5 to 10 days in which to rectify the violation. Failure to rectify the violation amount to eviction, but if the tenant rectifies within the specified period, then he is cannot be required to move out (Levitt, 2007).

The law allows for the tenant to notify the landlord in case they decide to withhold the payment in case a particular fault is not rectified within a specified period. In this case, it should be through writing and should be such that it allows landowner sensible time to submit to the demands. The landlord should also allow the landowner access to the fault in order to be able to rectify it (Schwemm, 2001). In case where the landlord is found guilty for unlawful termination of a rental contact, he can be required to pay some fees for the damages caused. The compensation paid by the landlord is can be given to the tenant (Schwemm, 2001).

Conclusion

The opponent is wrong in claiming he was justified to evict the tenant. It is true that the tenant had violated the contract but the landlord should by no means evict a tenant without a notice. The tenant violated Section 24 of the Residential Tenancies Act that requires the landlord to use only legal procedures to evict the tenant (Levitt, 2007).  This section forbids landlords from unlawfully locking out tenants from their rented premises. The tenant has a strong case because he was not issued with an eviction notice and the eviction process was carried out following illegal means.

References

Levitt, R. (2007). Ontario Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, index page online. Retrieved on March 18, 2010 http://www.ontariotenants.ca/law/law.phtml

Washington State Bar Association, (2009). Landlord-Tenant: Housing Rights Protection.

Retrieved on March 18, 2010 from http://www.wsba.org/media/publications/pamphlets/landlord-tenant.htm

Schwemm, R. (2001). Discriminatory Housing Statements and S. 3604(c): A New Look at the

Fair Housing Act’s Most Intriguing Provision, Fordham Urban Law Journal, Vol. 29.