Tenant rights
Tenant rights can either refer to the rights tenants enjoy by law, or to the movement to acquire such rights. Tenant rights generally seek to protect renters from landlord neglect and unfair eviction, as well as secure fair, affordable housing.
Laws dealing with the landlord-tenant relationship vary greatly between jurisdictions. These laws may provide some or all of the following for tenants:
- remedies for bad conditions
- privacy protections
- protection from landlord retaliation
- protection from exorbitant rent increases
- protection for the right to organize
- Just cause eviction controls
- unlimited rental term
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[edit] United Kingdom
Tenant-right is no longer a general term used in UK law, other than under agriculture legislation whereby the act of parliament (Agricultural Holdings Act) defines how to value items that a tenant cannot remove at the cessation of a tenancy e.g. fertilizer on the land. The rights of a tenant are enshrined in a variety of legislation including the Landlord and Tenant Act and a range of other legislation.
[edit] The Netherlands
In 1941 the Nazi occupier introduced a Huurbeschermsbesluit ('rental protection decision') [1] which enumerated the reasons a landlord could legally end a rental contract:
- for abuse of the property
- for causing a nuisance to neighbours
- for having an urgent need of the property
- if the tenant had the opportunity to move to a property of equal value
- if the tenant refused a reasonable offer of a new contract
- for failure to pay, unless that failure resulted from a disagreement about the rent
Rent protection was further codified in the 1950 Huurwet ('rental code').
Dutch tenants have also a legal expectation that their sanctity of home be respected at all times. In combination with a very high population density this has led to a flourishing squatter scene in the country, as this made it difficult to evict occupants even if they were not renters.
If a tenant dies, other occupants who are not renters may stay in the house for up to 6 months. If the occupants shared a household with the tenant, they can ask a court of law to let them take over the rental contract. [2]
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Rhodes, Trevor. American Tenant: Everything U Need to Know… about Your Rights as a Renter. 270 pages. McGraw-Hill, July 19, 2008. ISBN 0-07-159050-1.
- Haas, Janay Ann. Landlord/Tenant Rights in Oregon. 248 pages. Self-Counsel Press, 7th edition, March 24, 2004. ISBN 1-55180-429-8.
- Moskovitz, Myron et al. California Tenants' Rights. 272 pages. Nolo.com, 15th edition, January 1, 2001. ISBN 0-87337-644-7.
- Sember, Brette McWhorter. Tenants' Rights in New York. 225 pages. Sphinx Publishing, May 1, 2000. ISBN 1-57248-122-6.
[edit] Historical reference
- Lawson, Robert and Mark Naison, editors. The Tenant Movement in New York City, 1904-1984. Rutgers University Press. Hardback: ISBN 0-8135-1203-4. Cloth: ISBN 0-8135-1158-5.
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- A Pictorial History
- The Landlord as Czar: Pre-World War I Tenant Activity
- New York City Tenant Organizations and the Post-World War I Housing Crisis
- From Eviction Resistance to Rent Control: Tenant Activism in the Great Depression
- Tenant Power in the Liberal City, 1943-1971
- Tenant Responses to the Urban Housing Crisis, 1970-1984
[edit] References
- ^ Twee onder één kap, De huurprijs- en huurbeschermingsregeling in de Huurwet 1950, drs. J.J.M. Ramakers, Politieke Opstellen 7, 1987, pp. 89-100.
- ^ http://www.huurders.info/?id=254
[edit] External links
- Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
