Vergeltungsräumung

Key Takeaways

• Retaliatory eviction is illegal and occurs when landlords evict tenants for legal complaints.
• Tenants often find it challenging to prove a retaliatory eviction in court.
• Legal tenant actions that might trigger a retaliatory eviction include code violation complaints or organizing tenants.
• Landlords can only legally evict for breaches like unpaid rent or illegal tenant activities.
• Retaliatory harassment or rent hikes by landlords are typically illegal.
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What Is a Retaliatory Eviction?

A retaliatory eviction is an illegal attempt by a landlord to evict a tenant or refuse to renew a lease because the tenant exercised a legal right, such as reporting or building code violations. These actions are generally prohibited because they punish lawful complaints or requests. Eviction rules are set by state law, so the specific protections and proof requirements can vary by jurisdiction.

How Retaliatory Evictions Affect Tenants and Landlords

Landlords can legally evict tenants for failure to pay rent or for some other action that breaches a rental contract or lease agreement. In a retaliatory eviction, landlords take action when tenants act within their rights. Legal tenant actions that can spur a retaliatory eviction include complaining about potential health or building code violations, withholding rent as leverage for necessary repairs the landlord refuses to make, or organizing tenants in resistance to poor rental conditions.

Tenants who experience a retaliatory eviction can run into difficulty proving their case in court, however. In some cases landlords will present the court with an entirely different rationale for the eviction, forcing the tenant to lay out the connection between their activities and the landlord’s decision. Retaliatory evictions that take place within a reasonably short time after the precipitating event are generally easier to prove in court than evictions that take place long after the tenant upset the landlord.

Important

It’s easier for a tenant to prove a retaliatory eviction when it takes place in close proximity to the behavior that upset the landlord.

Valid Reasons for Legal Eviction

Landlords and tenants have legal rights under their state and local laws, as well as rights enumerated in their rental or lease agreement. Both groups should be familiar with those rights. Most states allow landlords to evict disruptive tenants when they engage in illegal activities, such as selling drugs out of an apartment, or when they repeatedly disturb neighbors with loud parties, arguments, or fights.

States generally consider illegal other retaliatory activities that are undertaken in an attempt to get tenants to break their lease. Landlords, for example, usually cannot legally harass tenants, cause a deterioration in their living conditions, or raise rents in an attempt to make tenants uncomfortable enough to break the lease themselves. When tenants refuse to obey an eviction notice, courts often must navigate a gray area to figure out whether the landlord’s activities fall under the retaliatory category or whether the eviction lies within the landlord’s legal rights.

Real-Life Example of Retaliatory Eviction

Let's say a tenant who rents an apartment in a highly desirable neighborhood files a complaint about a pest infestation or a persistent mold issue in their rental unit. The landlord may believe it will be easier and cheaper to evict the tenant and put the apartment up for rent, hoping that a new tenant will either live with the issue or solve it on their own. If the tenant can prove the eviction stemmed from their complaint, a court would likely consider the eviction retaliatory. This would place the landlord in legal jeopardy.