GA Bar Property Law 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A landlord's failure to maintain the premises in a habitable condition, causing the tenant to vacate, is known as:
- Constructive eviction (Correct answer)
- Actual eviction
- Unlawful detainer
- Wrongful termination
Correct answer: Constructive eviction
Constructive eviction occurs when the landlord's breach of the duty to maintain renders the premises uninhabitable, legally justifying the tenant's abandonment.
Question 2: A periodic tenancy from month-to-month is properly terminated by giving notice equal to:
- One full rental period (one month) (Correct answer)
- Two rental periods (two months)
- 30 days regardless of payment period
- Only by court order
Correct answer: One full rental period (one month)
At common law, a month-to-month periodic tenancy requires notice equal to the length of one period — one month — to terminate.
Question 3: When a tenant transfers her entire remaining lease term to a third party, the transfer is called a(n):
- Assignment (Correct answer)
- Sublease
- Novation
- Assumption
Correct answer: Assignment
An assignment transfers the tenant's entire remaining interest; a sublease retains some portion of the leasehold in the original tenant.
Question 4: Under the implied warranty of habitability, which of the following conditions would most likely constitute a breach?
- Non-functioning heating system in winter (Correct answer)
- Chipped but intact paint on interior walls
- Worn carpet in common areas
- Outdated kitchen appliances that still work
Correct answer: Non-functioning heating system in winter
A non-functioning heating system in winter deprives the tenant of an essential service, breaching the landlord's implied warranty of habitability.
Question 5: A tenant installs a commercial display case bolted to the floor of a rented retail space. At lease end, this item is likely classified as a:
- Trade fixture the tenant may remove (Correct answer)
- Real property belonging to the landlord
- Personal property subject to conversion
- Improvement requiring landlord approval to remove
Correct answer: Trade fixture the tenant may remove
Trade fixtures — items installed by a commercial tenant for business purposes — remain the tenant's personal property and may be removed before the lease expires.
Question 6: A residential tenant holds over after a fixed-term lease expires and the landlord accepts a rent payment. The tenancy most likely converts to a:
- Month-to-month periodic tenancy (Correct answer)
- New fixed-term tenancy identical to the original
- Tenancy at sufferance
- License revocable at will
Correct answer: Month-to-month periodic tenancy
When a landlord accepts rent from a holdover tenant, the majority rule converts the tenancy into a periodic tenancy measured by the rent payment interval.
Question 7: Under Georgia's landlord-tenant statute, a landlord who wrongfully withholds a security deposit beyond the required return period may be liable for:
- Three times the amount wrongfully withheld plus attorney's fees (Correct answer)
- The deposit amount only
- Punitive damages up to $10,000
- One month's additional rent
Correct answer: Three times the amount wrongfully withheld plus attorney's fees
Georgia O.C.G.A. § 44-7-35 subjects a landlord who willfully fails to return a security deposit to treble damages and attorney's fees.
GA Bar Property Law 3
A landlord's failure to maintain the premises in a habitable condition, causing the tenant to vacate, is known as: