What is the term for a situation where the landlord fails to provide essential services and the tenant moves out and stops paying rent?

What is the term for a situation where the landlord fails to provide essential services and the tenant moves out and stops paying rent?

• A. Financial eviction
• B. Temporary eviction
• C. Constructive eviction
• D. Actual eviction

Answer: (C)

Constructive eviction occurs when the landlord’s failure to provide essential services or to maintain the property makes the dwelling uninhabitable. Because the conditions are so diminished, the tenant is justified in moving out and generally stops paying rent for the period after leaving. This is not the landlord forcibly removing the tenant through a court order; instead, the tenant’s withdrawal is a response to the landlord’s breach of the obligation to provide a habitable, livable space. Distinguishing from actual eviction, which involves the landlord obtaining a court order to remove the tenant, constructive eviction focuses on the landlord’s failure to maintain the property and the tenant’s resulting right to vacate without continuing rent obligations.

Constructive eviction occurs when the landlord’s failure to provide essential services or to maintain the property makes the dwelling uninhabitable. Because the conditions are so diminished, the tenant is justified in moving out and generally stops paying rent for the period after leaving. This is not the landlord forcibly removing the tenant through a court order; instead, the tenant’s withdrawal is a response to the landlord’s breach of the obligation to provide a habitable, livable space. Distinguishing from actual eviction, which involves the landlord obtaining a court order to remove the tenant, constructive eviction focuses on the landlord’s failure to maintain the property and the tenant’s resulting right to vacate without continuing rent obligations.