Understanding the Right to Quiet Enjoyment

It is generally understood that when we rent property, along with whatever rights are in the rent agreement itself, there is also what is known as a right of quiet enjoyment. Quiet enjoyment is a simple concept, although one that can have differing interpretations, making it something important for property owners, and those who may use, possess, or rent property, to understand.

The Right to Enjoy Your Property

There are certain rights that we all enjoy when we own or rent property, and those are rights that a landlord or property owner cannot infringe upon.

It may seem obvious to say this, but implied in the law is the fact that when you rent property, you have a right to use, and enjoy the property, in the way that a property owner normally should.

It would be nice if there was just a laundry list of things that landlords cannot do, or which would constitute a violation of the rights to quiet enjoyment, but it isn’t so simple; often, whether or not the right to quiet enjoyment had been breached, is simply based on the interpretation of judge or jury.

Examples of Violations

Anything that affects a property owner’s use of the property in the way it is intended to be used, can be a breach, so long as the loss is long and substantial enough.

So, for example, if a landlord needs access to the property for a day to check the smoke detectors, that isn’t a breach of the right to quiet enjoyment. But if the landlord or those sent by the landlord is periodically stopping into the property unannounced, walking in like you aren’t even there, for months on end, now it’s closer to breaching quiet enjoyment.

Noise can be a breach, if the noise is so loud, and so pervasive, so as to materially affect the use of the property. But noise is, of course, subjective. Loud pervasive, continuing noise, perhaps at inconvenient hours, could be enough to warrant a breach.

Claiming Constructive Eviction

If the enjoyment of the property becomes so interrupted, and if the use of the property has been materially affected, for a sufficient amount of time, a tenant may be able to claim that there has been a constructive eviction.

The tenant essentially alleges in a constructive eviction, that the use of the property has become so impeded with, that the tenant effectively no longer has the use of the property that he or she should have, amounting to an eviction.

But because of the subjective nature of the right to quiet enjoyment, and potential penalties for breaking any kind of lease, you should always talk to a real estate attorney before simply claiming you have been constructively evidenced, and before you stop making rent payments.

Aggrieved tenants do have the option of staying in the property and paying rent, while at the same time maintaining an action for constructive eviction because of a breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment.

Are you having problems with property that you own or rent?  Call the West Palm Beach real estate lawyers at The Law Offices of Larry E. Bray today for help.

Source:

giffordpropertymanagement.com/implied-covenant-quiet-enjoyment