Landlord Tenant Indemnity Agreement

Those of you who regularly have fair housing training or who have attended one of our seminars know that discrimination based on marital status is not allowed. The best example of this situation is when you refuse to rent to a potential tenant because they have children. That will not be enough. And you don`t. In particular, in the case of commercial (but also residential) leases, landlords include indemnification and insurance clauses in order to pass on the financial risk and the burden of these claims to the tenant. Indemnification is the assumption of another party`s liability under .B a contract, for example a rental agreement. Therefore, under a indemnification clause, tenants generally agree to reimburse or pay directly to the landlord “all losses, claims, lawsuits, liabilities and expenses” related to a liability situation. Contact your landlord`s lawyer to determine if your lease grants the tenant sufficient exclusive use to provide protection against liability claims for injury to the premises. Giving tenants exclusive ownership and control can be a “good thing.” Break. Here, other owners may want to press pause. Here is a concrete example that I met recently.

The tenant has received services in accordance with Article 8. The landlord asked the tenant to execute a HUD model lease for social housing. It sounds pretty innocent, and some might even say it`s perfectly fine. Well, here`s just a provision of the HUD lease model that an Article 8 landlord may not want in their lease – automatic renewal for consecutive terms of one year. It is true that this section 8 tenant received a permanent lease. No option not to renew at the end of the year. Such a provision is not permitted in social housing rental contracts. Here`s the scene. You manage a building with tax credit units. So you have market tenants, tax credit tenants, social housing tenants, and you probably also have section 8 tenants.

You have a lease – one in which you very carefully invested a lot of time and money when you managed this strictly market-oriented property three years ago. Excellent decision to invest in your lease. All homeowners should follow your example. Now you make the decision to order that you will use this brilliantly designed lease in the new property, and you will start renting units. While it may seem simple, this is a sophisticated attack on your rights as a landlord, as well as local public order, which could lead to a very costly fight if you are one of the unfortunate. Some tenant lawyers use it to get compensation money from unsuspecting landlords – some are really pursuing a policy change through a back door. In any case, you need to be aware of the potential and know how to prepare for it. For example, the Connecticut Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of the landlord in a case of bodily injury by a tenant`s customer who was injured in a car accident in the site`s parking lot. The Court of Appeal emphasized the importance of the wording of the lease because it could certainly express whether the landlord retained control of the premises or whether they were under the “exclusive control” of the tenant.

In this case, the commercial lease entrusted the tenant with “full and sole responsibility” for the premises (including the parking space). While the lease also provided that the tenant must obtain the landlord`s consent before taking action on the premises, careful legal development of the approval clause prevented the “total and sole liability” clause from being compromised and gave the landlord the benefit of the approval without the risks associated with the operation, maintenance and repair. It`s easy to prepare for this – do what you always do and make sure you have adequate anti-discrimination insurance coverage. There is no way to “handle the call” that can prevent some exposure for you. What for? If you do not show or rent the accommodation to the “interested party”, they will make a claim for discrimination against you for discrimination of family status. If you rent the home to the family, you will be in front of a zoning enforcement committee, or worse, a prosecutor for violating local zoning laws. If the zoning or state asks you to evict the tenant as part of the remedy they are requesting, the tenant will complain to the HRD that you are evicting them for an illegal discriminatory reason. Looking back on a long career (five (5) years in private practice as a landlord-tenant and twenty (20) years as a housing attorney), Ms. Dicine reminded the audience: Au 12. At the annual CONN-NAHRO convention and exhibition held in Mohegan Sun this year, Judith Dicine, Deputy Attorney of the Supervising State, gave an excellent presentation on criminal housing issues and the enforcement of fire, construction, zoning, health and housing regulations. CONN-NAHRO is short for a homeowners` organization called the Connecticut Chapter of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, which consists primarily of housing authorities, subsidized housing, tax credits, and other affordable, for-profit, non-profit housing providers.

This group of experienced housing professionals meet annually for training sessions and updates covering all areas of housing provision and management, including lobbying and legislation from the federal and state governments. While this is primarily true for those of you who have tenants who participate in various eligibility programs throughout your property, those of you who only manage one type of program should also read on. We`ll look at your risks later in this article. Here`s the “test” you can take if you haven`t already, that you could face a fabricated discrimination charge at the HRD. The tester calls you and asks if you have two rooms available. You say yes because you currently have two unoccupied. They then tell you that the couple has 4 children and they want to apply for one of the two vacant two bedroom apartments. The variations in the rest of this conversation are irrelevant to our discussion today because they all lead to the same place – they have too many people who happen to be kids for a two-bedroom apartment. To make matters worse, they not only exceed your occupancy allowances per room, but also the occupancy restrictions of the local city. However, since tenant representatives are not able to effectively change local zoning rules, they try to tackle the problem through you and your bank account. Each of the different programs in which your tenants participate has its own rules, has rules and therefore requires its own version of your lease to adequately protect your interests and dispel unnecessary liabilities. For those of you who attended our Popular Section 8 Seminar, you know what to do with your tenants in Section 8.

But what about the rest of them? If spelled correctly, typical commercial and residential lease clauses, which require the tenant to obtain the landlord`s consent before taking steps such as modifying or adding improvements to the property, can remain in the lease without destroying the tenant`s “exclusive” rights. In fact, she said she was surprised that she did not recognize or know most of the owners who attended her meeting because she had not seen or heard that they were on trial in a criminal case. She did not mean that she expected to be prosecuted (or prosecuted) for criminal violations. Rather, she was surprised that they did not lay charges against tenants who had violated criminal housing laws and that they were not present in court to assist their local code officials who filed criminal charges against tenants who refused to comply with tenant obligations under the code applicable to tenants. Landlords should contact their lawyer if they are not familiar with the various laws and codes that apply to their activities, if they have not established a good working relationship with their local code officials (or if they have a conflicting relationship), or if they do not know what criminal housing laws apply to tenants and how landlords can enforce their rights. Well, you say, since the tenant is not a tenant of social housing, this provision of the lease simply does not apply. If only it were that simple. The problem is that no matter what type of tenancy or subsidy program the tenant is eligible for, the lease between the landlord and the tenant governs their relationship. Therefore, the perpetual rent clause applies, as do all provisions on the amount of rent based on the tenant`s income, as calculated in accordance with federal regulations, etc., etc. Imagine that a market tenant is offered and signs this lease. You may be limiting the amount of rent you could charge that tenant without knowing it.

A tenant`s guest suffers a serious slip and fall accident on the premises and files a lawsuit for bodily injury against the landlord. Who pays the claim and/or legal fees and expenses to defend against it? It depends on the lease and the law of the state. Unless a victim of this abusive testing practice takes the testers to court, shows the metal to see the fight to the end, and claims a victory for the owners, this practice will continue and the test results will continue to affect your profits. Caution. We`ve written a lot about the importance of your lease to your success as a landlord. .