Tenant Still Owed Rent, Despite Space's Structural Defec

April 1, 2002

A lease required the owner to repair the space, at its own expense, upon receipt of notice of a defect from the tenant. The tenant discovered that the floor had been severely damaged by a prior tenant's heavy equipment. The tenant notified the owner of the defect while the owner was on vacation. When the owner returned, it hired an engineer to inspect the floor. The owner later notified the tenant's attorney that it intended to fix the floor. But before the owner started any repairs, the tenant stopped paying rent and moved out of its space.

A lease required the owner to repair the space, at its own expense, upon receipt of notice of a defect from the tenant. The tenant discovered that the floor had been severely damaged by a prior tenant's heavy equipment. The tenant notified the owner of the defect while the owner was on vacation. When the owner returned, it hired an engineer to inspect the floor. The owner later notified the tenant's attorney that it intended to fix the floor. But before the owner started any repairs, the tenant stopped paying rent and moved out of its space. The owner relet the space but kept the tenant's security deposit. The tenant sued the owner for violating the lease and demanded a return of its security deposit.

A Connecticut court ruled that the owner could keep the security deposit to cover the rent that the tenant refused to pay. The court said that the tenant's responsibility to pay the rent was independent of the owner's responsibility to fix the floor. Plus the court said that the owner acted reasonably in handling the repairs because the lease didn't require time to be of the essence, nor did it specify how quickly the repairs had to be made [Grunsell v. Saaf].

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