Will You Lose Your Duplex Tenants Due To A Storm?
Recent storm damage in Oklahoma and Michigan caused me to wonder this morning. What are a housing provider’s responsibilities if your duplex, triplex or fourplex is hit by a natural disaster?
If a property is destroyed, uninhabitable or unfit to live in, tenants have the right to move out and stop paying rent.
Who decides whether it is or isn’t livable?
If a government official condemns a building, that person usually tells tenants to vacate. When that happens, tenants no longer have to pay rent and can demand their security deposit be refunded in 5 days.
What determines if it’s unlivable? It must pass all safety and health codes, be in reasonable repair and be fit for the use intended. Unaddressed emergency repairs would likely cause the property to be labeled uninhabitable. Those repairs include:
- loss of running water
- no hot water
- heat in winter
- electricity
- sanitary facilities
- other essential services that are the housing providers responsibilities
Of course, it is urgent those things get addressed quickly, if that’s possible.
In the event a tenant decides the unit is unlivable, and the housing provider disagrees, the resident may file in court for something called a constructive eviction. They must then prove, in court, the unit was unlivable.
To meet that threshold of proof, the tenant will need to:
- No longer live there. Staying only confirms it was livable.
- Remove their belongings from the unit and turn in the keys.
If the judge disagrees, the resident must continue to pay rent and utilities for the remainder of the lease.
Increasingly volatile weather systems increase the likelihood of a storm damage. If it happens, it’s good to know what to prioritize.