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Posted by on May 25, 2006, 4:48 pm
Greetings,
My question is if the liability of a home warranty company extends
beyond the home owner to the tenant/renter of the covered home.
The warranty is in the name of the home owner. A/C stopped working in
the covered home. The temerature in the home reaches 90+ degrees
without the A/C working, making it uninhabitable. As a result,
tenant/renter was displaced and rented a hotel room. State law
provides recoverery of the cost of suitable housing at a rate of not
more than 25% above the periodic rate. The daily rate is $30, so
tenant's maximum allowance is $37.50 per day.
Home owner has made attempts by way of the warranty company to resolve
the issue, and so cannot be viewed as being neglegent. If it can
successfully be argued that the warranty company acted with neglegence,
does the tenant have a cause of action against the warranty company
directly?
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Posted by on May 25, 2006, 5:05 pm
gweedoh@hotmail.com wrote:
> Greetings,
> My question is if the liability of a home warranty company extends
> beyond the home owner to the tenant/renter of the covered home.
>
> The warranty is in the name of the home owner. A/C stopped working in
> the covered home. The temerature in the home reaches 90+ degrees
> without the A/C working, making it uninhabitable. As a result,
> tenant/renter was displaced and rented a hotel room. State law
> provides recoverery of the cost of suitable housing at a rate of not
> more than 25% above the periodic rate. The daily rate is $30, so
> tenant's maximum allowance is $37.50 per day.
>
> Home owner has made attempts by way of the warranty company to resolve
> the issue, and so cannot be viewed as being neglegent. If it can
> successfully be argued that the warranty company acted with neglegence,
> does the tenant have a cause of action against the warranty company
> directly?
Maybe a lawyer news group?
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Posted by Banty on May 25, 2006, 5:10 pm
gweedoh@hotmail.com says...
>
>Greetings,
>My question is if the liability of a home warranty company extends
>beyond the home owner to the tenant/renter of the covered home.
>
>The warranty is in the name of the home owner. A/C stopped working in
>the covered home. The temerature in the home reaches 90+ degrees
>without the A/C working, making it uninhabitable. As a result,
>tenant/renter was displaced and rented a hotel room. State law
>provides recoverery of the cost of suitable housing at a rate of not
>more than 25% above the periodic rate. The daily rate is $30, so
>tenant's maximum allowance is $37.50 per day.
>
>Home owner has made attempts by way of the warranty company to resolve
>the issue, and so cannot be viewed as being neglegent. If it can
>successfully be argued that the warranty company acted with neglegence,
>does the tenant have a cause of action against the warranty company
>directly?
>
Well, what does the warranty say? Certainly, when I had a home warranty as a
new homeowner taking over a house with some ancient appliances, there was no
clause covering habitability loss, even for me. It was all about replacing the
appliances (and only with ones they'd supply, to boot.)
At any rate, this is a separate issue from what a landlord's obligation is
concerning an uninhabitable apartment. The renter's lease, if any, and local
laws would cover that.
But look at the warranty if you're the homeowner/landlord. If you're the
tenant, look at your lease and contact your local renter's rights organization.
Banty
--
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Posted by Joshua Putnam on May 25, 2006, 5:14 pm
gweedoh@hotmail.com says...
> Home owner has made attempts by way of the warranty company to resolve
> the issue, and so cannot be viewed as being neglegent. If it can
> successfully be argued that the warranty company acted with neglegence,
> does the tenant have a cause of action against the warranty company
> directly?
The company has a contract with the landlord, the tenant has no contract
with the company, and the company has no obligation to the tenant.
The tenant's complaint is with the landlord for failing to fix the A/C,
the tenant doesn't care who is doing the work, only that it gets done.
The landlord's legal obligation is to have the problem fixed, not to
have it fixed by a particular company.
The tenant claims against the landlord, whose obligation is apparently
limited by law. Then the landlord can try to collect from the home
warranty company if its performance is in breach of the contract.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, I'm not in your state (not a chance if
you're having 90-degree weather!), and I haven't read your state laws or
your home warranty contract.
--
josh@phred.org is Joshua Putnam
<http://www.phred.org/~josh/>
Braze your own bicycle frames. See
<http://www.phred.org/~josh/build/build.html>
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Posted by tom on May 25, 2006, 5:33 pm
Like Mr. Putnam says, it's the landlords responsibility to get the AC
fixed, or provide a suitable alternative, home warrantee or not. I'm a
landlord, and if a tenant calls me with a complaint along those lines,
I do my best to fix it quickly. It's 100+ degrees today! I don't see
an issue with such a warrantee in regards to_who_ lives in the house ,
but rather_which_ company does the work authorized by the home
warrantee provider. G'luck. Tom
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