Assignment: Constructive Eviction and the Implied Warranty of Habitability

Steve is renting a property from Billy. One evening Steve tripped and fell down the stairs. The issue is that one of the stairs in the common area was faulty. Billy knew about the stair, but he had never got around to fixing it.

Steve injured his leg, so he decided to return to his room. The heater was not working (and it was in the middle of winter). Steve had told Billy about the faulty heater for months, but Billy never got around to fixing it. There is a local ordinance that requires landlords to repair heaters. Additionally, assume that this jurisdiction includes the implied warranty of habitability. The jurisdiction recognizes constructive eviction, and it follows the majority rule of when landlords are liable for injuries.

What causes of action does Steve have?

What remedies does he have for the faulty heater?

The requirements below must be met for your paper to be accepted:

Write between 500 - 750 words (approximately 2 - 3 pages) using Microsoft Word.

Attempt APA style, see example below.
Use font size 12 and 1" margins.
Include cover page and reference page.

Use at least two references from outside the course material, preferably from EBSCOhost. Text book, lectures, and other materials in the course may be used, but are not counted toward the two reference requirement.

Reference material (data, dates, graphs, quotes, paraphrased words, values, etc.) must be identified in the paper and listed on a reference page.Reference material (data, dates, graphs, quotes, paraphrased words, values, etc.) must come from sources such as, scholarly journals found in EBSCOhost, online newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, government websites, etc. Sources such as Wikis, Yahoo Answers, eHow, etc. are not acceptable.