UNIFORM RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT - Real Estate Law in Alabama

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UNIFORM RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT

ARTICLE I

GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS

PART I
SHORT TITLE, CONSTRUCTION, APPLICATION AND SUBJECT MATTER OF THE ACT

1.101. Short Title

This Act shall be known and may be cited as the “Alabama Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.”

Comment
This Act concerns landlord-tenant relationships under rental agreements for residential purposes (Section 1.201). The Act does not apply to rental agreements made for commercial, industrial, agricultural or any purpose other than residential.

§ 1.102. Purposes; Rules of Construction

(a) This Act shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies.
(b) Underlying purposes and policies of this Act are
(1) to simplify, clarify, modernize, and revise the law governing the rental of
dwelling units and the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants;
(2) to encourage landlords and tenants to maintain and improve the quality of
housing; and
(3) to make uniform the law with respect to the subject of this Act among those
states which enact it.
(c) This Act shall be construed as applying only to the residential landlord and tenant
relationship. The Act does not create any duties in tort or causes of action in tort, nor does it deprive
anyone of any causes of action in tort that may exist apart from this Act.

Paragraph (c) has been added to emphasize this Act affects only the rights and responsibilities of parties that arise out of the landlord-tenant relationship. Other duties between parties remain unchanged and are governed by law apart from this Act.

Comment

Existing landlord-tenant law in the United States, save as modified by statute or judicial interpretation, is a product of English common law developed within an agricultural society at a time when doctrines of promissory contract were unrecognized. Thus, the landlord-tenant relationship was viewed as conveyance of a lease-hold estate and the covenants of the parties generally independent. These doctrines are inappropriate to modern urban conditions and inexpressive of the
vital interests of the parties and the public which the law must protect.
This Act recognizes the modern tendency to treat performance of certain obligations of the parties as interdependent.
Liberal construction of this Act and its application for promotion of its underlying purposes and policies will permit development by the courts in light of unforeseen and new circumstances and practices. However, proper construction of the Act requires that its interpretation and application be limited to its reason.

§ 1.103. Supplementary Principles of Law Applicable

Unless displaced by the provisions of this Act, the principles of law and equity, including, but not limited to, the law relating to capacity to contract, mutuality of obligations, principal and agent, real property, public health, safety and fire prevention, estoppel, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, coercion, mistake, bankruptcy, or other validating or invalidating cause supplement its provisions.

Comment

This section, adapted from Section 1-103 of the Uniform Commercial Code, indicates the continued applicability to landlord-tenant relations of all supplemental bodies of law except in so far as they are explicitly displaced by this Act. The listing given in this section is merely illustrative; no listing could be exhaustive.

§ 1.104. Construction Against Implicit Repeal

This Act being a general act intended as a unified coverage of its subject matter, no part of it is to be construed as impliedly repealed by subsequent legislation if that construction can reasonably be avoided.

Comment

This section indicates the policy that no Act which bears evidence of carefully considered permanent regulative intention should lightly be regarded as impliedly repealed by subsequent legislation. This Act, carefully integrated and intended as a uniform codification of permanent character covering an entire “field” of law, is to be regarded as particularly resistant to implied repeal.

§ 1.105. Administration of Remedies; Enforcement

(a) The remedies provided by this Act shall be so administered that an aggrieved party may recover appropriate damages. The aggrieved party has a duty to mitigate damages.
(b) Any right or obligation declared by this Act is enforceable by action unless the provision declaring it specifies a different and limited effect.

Comment

Subsection (a) is intended to negate unduly narrow or technical interpretation of remedial provisions and to make clear that damages must be minimized. The use of the words “aggrieved party” is intended to indicate that in appropriate circumstances rights and remedies may extend to third persons under this Act or supplementary principles of law (compare Article IV, Parts I and II),
for example a spouse or children of an aggrieved tenant.
Under subsection (b) any right or obligation described in this Act is enforceable by court
action, even though no remedy may be expressly provided, unless a particular provision specifies a
different and limited effect. Whether tort action, specific performance or equitable relief is available is
determined not by this section but by specific provisions and supplementary principles (see Section
1.103).

§ 1.106. Settlement of Disputed Claim or Right
A claim or right arising under this Act or on a rental agreement, if disputed in good faith, may be settled by agreement.

Alabama Comment

“This act does not address arbitration in any way. This section only authorizes and
encourages the parties to settle their disagreements before resorting to judicial action.”
Comment
This section applies to settlements of claims asserted by either landlord or tenant.
Subsequent sections of this Act (a) forbid the tenant from prior waiver of rights (Section
1.403), and (b) subject the bargain of the parties to the test of conscionability (Section 1.303).