University of Virginia Library

Curbing Slumlords

Originating from the medieval feudal
economic system under which landlords
conferred the privilege of property use to the
landless, Virginia common law has been
traditionally landlord-oriented. In an effort to
reorder a deck of laws stacked heavily in
favor of property owners, two young lawyers
affiliated with Roanoke Valley Legal Aid
Society have compiled a valuable critique of
existing statutes governing landlord-tenant
relations.

The attorneys - Kurt Vergren and William
Lissner - have concluded that a significant
amount of housing in Virginia is "substandard
in structure, equipment, sanitation and
maintenance." Such conditions, they add, in a
report issued by the legal aid group,
contribute to the "development and spread
of disease, crime, infant mortality, juvenile
delinquency, broken homes.....and constitute
a menace to the health, safety, morals, and
welfare of the residents of this
commonwealth."

The indictment is followed by a list of five
specific proposals for legislation intended to
correct the imbalance: laws which, if enacted,
would provide tenants with a reasonable
degree of bargaining power when negotiating
with landlords, thus fostering a system of
"mutual and dependent covenants."

First, there is the proposal that legal
sanction be granted to tenants who withhold
rents on dwellings in "substantial violation"
of existing laws regarding standards of fitness
for human habitation. On serving notice to
the offending landlord, a tenant would be
within his rights in refusing to pay further
rent until the standards are met.

A second proposal calls for recognition
that all leases, by implication, require
premises rented to be fit for human
habitation. Otherwise, it is argued, failure to
meet this condition constitutes automatic
breach of contract.

Another abuse the lawyers seek to correct
is the widespread practice by landlords of
collecting large so-called "security deposits"
from tenants-collateral intended to cover any
damages which occur during occupancy.
While in itself a logical measure, this
procedure often constitutes nothing so much
as a system of forced loans-without interest
to the tenant-which provide landlords with
large sums of available capital for private
investment and profit. The proposal would
require landlords to place the money in
savings accounts with interest accrued going
to the tenant when the lease ends. (One
percent of the interest would go to the
landlord.)

Moreover, no lease could contain a clause
waiving the tenant's legal rights. The final
proposal cites the landlord's obligation to
repair faulty premises. A bill is offered which
would require landlords to pay the cost of all
repair work necessary to render the dwelling
habitable as defined by state regulations.

One need only take a look at the slums of
any community in Virginia to see that such
measures are essential in curbing willful
neglect by profit-hungry slumlords. Rat
infested, filthy, unheated housing-often
forced on helpless people with no
recourse-may be found in abundance all over
Charlottesville. Nor are the poverty-stricken
the only victims: as student housing grows
increasingly hard to find, students are left
with no alternative but to place themselves at
the mercy of ruthless property owners and
rental agencies.

Decent housing in our society is not simply
a privilege conferred by the wealthy on the
less fortunate. It is a right, and the time has
come for the General Assembly to
acknowledge that right with the adoption of
laws such as those here offered.