Also known as: landlords · landlady · landladies · landhlaford · lessor
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A person who leases real property to another.
Levi Lowe owns a warehouse and grants Legacy Motors a lease for five years at a set monthly rent. The parties execute a written agreement specifying the exact start and end dates. Legacy Motors takes possession and begins operations. When the term expires Legacy Motors must vacate unless the parties renew.
Lucas Lee rents an apartment to Lola Langley under an oral agreement that renews each month. Either party may end the arrangement by giving one month's notice before the next rental period begins. When Lucas provides proper notice Lola must vacate at the end of the following month or face eviction proceedings.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Lila Lin allows Leah Lamb to occupy a storage unit on a day-to-day basis with no fixed end date. Either party may terminate the arrangement at any time by giving notice. When Lila decides to sell the building she notifies Leah who must vacate within the required statutory period.
Laura Lewis leases a house to Loyal Insurance employees for residential use. On the move-in date the roof leaks and the electrical system fails making the home uninhabitable. The employees may terminate the lease before taking possession and recover damages or affirm the lease and seek repairs or rent abatement.
Lumen Capital leases a designated parking spot in a garage to Levi Lowe for his vehicle. The lease identifies the exact numbered space that remains constant throughout the term. When another tenant parks in that space Lumen Capital must restore Levi's exclusive use of the assigned location.
Lakewood Manufacturing leases an entire factory building to Lucas Lee. The lease grants Lucas sole control over entry and use of the premises. When Lakewood Manufacturing later attempts to enter without permission Lucas may exclude the company because possession has been transferred under the lease.
A landlord who retains possession of portions necessary for tenant use must keep those areas in reasonably safe condition. Delegation of repairs to an independent contractor does not relieve the landlord of liability to tenants or their invitees for resulting harm. The landlord remains responsible as if the repairs had been performed personally.
Supporting sources
Liability arises only if the landlord knew of or consented to the activity at lease inception and knew or had reason to know it would create an unreasonable risk or that necessary precautions would not be taken. General awareness of risky operations is insufficient without specific knowledge that safety measures would be omitted.
Supporting sources
Yes. The duty to maintain leased property in reasonably safe condition is nondelegable. When a contractor fails to exercise reasonable care the landlord is vicariously liable to tenants and consented third parties for resulting physical harm even if the landlord selected the contractor carefully or lacked actual knowledge of the defect.
Supporting sources
…example, in Loretto v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp. , 458 U. S. 419 (1982), we determined that New York's law requiring landlords to allow television cable companies to emplace cable facilities in their apartment buildings constituted a taking, id. , at 435-440, even though the facilities occupied at most only 1 1/2…