With respect to Section III.A.3.b (Marital Interests: Commmunity Property), please be prepared to discuss the Problems at CB 459-460, 460-461, 462, and 463. Note the slight revision to the material assigned for Section III.A.3.b

With respect to Section III.B.1 (Landlord Tenant Law), consider:

• Be familiar with the different categories of tenancies, but don’t worry about the notice issues raised in the problems at CB 473.
• Suppose, in a commercial lease of a warehouse for five years, the landlord makes no promise to keep the premises in good repair. A serious roof leak develops at the beginning of the fifth year of the lease. one which will cost many thousands of dollars to repair. The tenant comes to you for advice. What issues would you need to consider in determining the tenant’s rights?
  • Consider the same circumstances, except the landlord had promised in the lease to keep the warehouse in good repair. What issues would you need to consider in determining the tenant’s rights?

With respect to Section III.B.2 (Assignment & Sublease):

• How would the following hypotheticals come out in light of Ernst v. Conditt:
  1. Consider the following hypothetical:
     • Jan. 1: L --> T for 1 year.
     • April 1: T gets a new job elsewhere after 3 months and wants to leave town. T wants to have her friend T₁ move in; her plan is for T₁ to sign an agreement with T to live there for the remaining 9 months of the lease. Under the agreement between T and T₁, T₁ will pay rent monthly to T, and T will pay the rent to L. L won't be consulted about whether he approves of the change.
       Questions:
       
       1. Does T have the right at common law to do this? What do you need to know about the lease to answer this question?
       2. Suppose that the arrangement proceeds smoothly until October, when T stops paying L. Can L bring an action against T₁ for the last three months rent (assuming that T₁ continues to live there)?
       3. Instead of the facts mentioned in c., suppose that as of June 1, T₁ transfers his interest to T₂, who moves in. Could L sue T₁ for the remaining months’ rent if it is not paid as it comes due? Is T₂ liable? Is T liable? On what basis?
  2. Consider the following hypothetical:
     • Jan. 1: L --> T for 1 year.
     • April 1: T gets a new job elsewhere that will take her out of town for the next 6 months. T wants to have her friend T₁ move in; her plan is for T₁ to sign an agreement with T to live there for the 6 month period while T is gone, after which T will move back in. Under the agreement between T and T₁, T₁ will pay rent monthly to T, and T will pay the rent to L. L won't be consulted about whether he approves of the change.
       Question:
       If T fails to pay L for rent during the 6 months, could L go after T₁? Could L go after T? On what basis?
  3. Should the situations in 1 and 2 above be treated differently? Why or why not?

• With regard to Kendall v. Pestana, consider:
  • Suppose you were writing the statement of facts for Bixler or for Kendall in the appellate brief in Kendall v. Pestana. How would you frame the key issue(s) in a sentence or two? How would you do so if you were writing the statement of facts on behalf of Pestana?
  • What are the arguments for applying a reasonableness standard in Kendall? What are the arguments against such a standard?
  • Do you think Pestana’s action was reasonable? Why or why not?
  • What if there had been a provision in the lease saying “consent to sublease or assign may be withheld for any reason at all” (or “consent to sublease or assign may be withheld without regard to the reasonableness of the withholding”) would that have changed the outcome in the case? What would be the effect of such a provision after Kendall?
  • Should the court have left the rule in place and put the responsibility on the legislature to change it? Why or why not? What did the legislature do after the case was decided?
  • Should the same approach be taken in the case of residential leases? Why or why not? Notice (from the title of the Slavin case) that Brookline had rent control. Does that make a difference to your answer?
  • You represent a law student in the state of Cania, where the landlord has a duty to mitigate. The student signed a one-year lease, from Aug. 1 to July 31. At the end of school year, in May, T wants to leave for good, and not have to pay rent. Suppose the lease prohibits assignment and sublease without the landlord’s permission. Suppose, further, that the courts in that state have ruled that there’s no requirement of reasonableness on the part of the landlord in granting or denying that permission. The law student tells you that in general, the landlord is a pretty unreasonable person. What might you advise the student to do?
  • T consults you for legal advice in Florida under Fla. Stat. § 83.595. T agreed to rent apartment 6-L in a large multi-unit building for one year (from 9/1/23 to 8/31/25), putting down one month’s rent and a security deposit equal to one month’s rent. On 9/04/23, T (who had not moved in) informed L that she had planned to live in 6-L with her fiance, but they had just now broken up. She couldn’t afford it on her own. She offered to let L keep the month’s rent and security deposit if L would cancel the lease. L replied that he would not do so and that she would still be liable for the rental payments. In September 2024, L files suit against T seeking rent from T for the months 9/1/23 through 2/29/24, saying that the apartment was vacant during that period; he is not seeking rent for the period 3/1/24 through 8/31/25 because he leased it to a new tenant who moved in on 3/1/24. Through discovery, T finds out that on 11/15/23, someone had asked about whether 6-L was available, and L had replied, “No, I have a tenant for that unit so it’s not available,” and declined to show it.
    • Is T liable for the rent from 9/1/23 to 2/29/24? (Assume that the landlord credits her with the first months’s rent and security.) Why or why not?
  • Should there be a duty on the part of the landlord to mitigate when a tenant breaches by moving out before the lease has expired? Why or why not?
  • What is the relevance of the duty to mitigate to the issues in Kendall and Slavin?
  • Should the courts uphold a provision in a lease absolutely forbidding any subleases shorter than 30 days? 60 days? 180 days? Why or why not?

With respect to Section III.B.3.a (Warranty of Habitability: Common Law):

• What are the arguments for and against implying a warranty of habitability in residential leases?
• If there is a warranty, what kind of housing should it cover -- all housing? urban housing? multi-unit housing?
• What are the contents of the warranty? Where would you go to see the contents?
• Should the warranty be waivable by the tenant? Under what circumstances
• What are the remedies for violations of the warranty?
• What protections against retaliation are typically provided to tenants who assert rights under the warranty?
• Should something like a warranty of habitability (e.g., a warranty of suitability or warranty of tenantability) apply to the rental of commercial property -- for example, a warehouse? Why or why not?
• You represent an individual who runs a small import-export business specializing in wicker furniture. She wants to rent a small warehouse to store her inventory. The warehouse is one of five in a small, long single-story building; each warehouse unit extends from the front of the building to the back. What provisions would you want to see included in the lease regarding the condition, repair, and maintenance of the unit?

With respect to Section III.B.3.b (The Florida Landlord Tenant Statute), please be prepared to discuss Question 1 (Supp. 206-207).