Landlord-tenant relationship arises when the owner of a freehold estate (fee simple absolute, a conditional estate, or a life estate) transfers to another, the right to temporally posses the realty. Generally, the right of possession is given in exchange for the payment of rent.The temporary transfer of right of possession is referred to as leasing or demising the property. Since the transfer of possession is temporary, the owner of the freehold will eventually regain possession. This power to regain possession is called the right of reversion. The owner of the freehold is called the landlord or lessor and the the party receiving the temporary right of possession is called the tenant or lessee. After transfer, the tenant is said to own a leasehold estate.When a written document evidences the relationship between the parties, the document is usually called the lease or rental agreement. Most leases constitute a blending of the Law of Conveyancing and the Law of Contracts.The conveyancing aspect of the transaction is concerned with transferring a leasehold estate to the tenant. The contract aspects relate to the agreements between the parties on such issues as payment of rent. Who shall repair the realty, the amount of security on cleaning deposits and the conditions under which they can be returned and limitation on uses of the property,The law treats tenants as owners of non-freehold estates. These estates do not occupy the same status in the law as freehold estates. The owners of freehold estates are said to be seised of the property. Owners of estates are seised, though they do possess the realty.Because of this, the landlord retains some obligations of ownership, like the duty to pay the property taxes. Further, the tenant’s estate will be treated as personality.
This is if a tenant dies the tenant’s leasehold interest may pass via the tenant’s will to those who receive the decedent’s personality.Because leases are two-party contracts, the law assumes that parties negotiate the terms of the lease at arm’s length with each party protecting his own self-interest. Accordingly, there is no standard lease document. Most printed lease documents have been prepared by the attorney for landlords. As a result, this entails the scope of the landlord-tenant relationship. Lastly, for the good of the tenants, the management and for the owners good, these procedures are made to follow for the safest environment.