Title 34, Title 34 Title 34

No decision, judgment, or decree, excepting decrees taking the matter as confessed, shall be entered by default, but proof satisfactory to the court shall be offered in support of plaintiff’s claim of title and of all claims known to be, or which may be, adverse thereto, and the …

The remedy provided by this chapter shall be cumulative and shall not exclude or prevent the exercise of any other right or remedy now allowed by law.

Upon filing his or her complaint, the plaintiff shall thereafter, at his or her own cost, select, with the approval of the court, a title company or an attorney familiar with the examination of land titles, which company or attorney shall proceed to examine the title to the real …

A cause of action under this chapter shall follow the course of equity so far as equity is applicable, and the court shall determine the validity of the title of the plaintiffs, and may affirm the title, or if it finds other parties to have any title and estate therein, it shall …

Any person or persons claiming title to real estate, or any interest or estate, legal or equitable, in real estate, including any warrantor in any deed or other instrument in the chain of title to the real estate, which title, interest, or estate is based upon, or has come throug…

The complaint shall contain, among other things, to the extent known to plaintiff: (1) A complete and accurate description of the real estate involved, and the right, title and interest of the plaintiff claimed therein and the character and source thereof; (2) A recital of the ch…

Upon the filing of the complaint the court may, in its discretion, require that the plaintiff file an abstract of title to the real estate as specified in § 34-16-2.

Open, adverse, exclusive, and uninterrupted possession and enjoyment by the plaintiff, or by his or her predecessors in title or both the plaintiff and predecessors together of the real estate or his, her, or their interest therein described in the complaint, for a period of at l…

Under § 34-16-7, proof satisfactory to the court, and adequate to justify it, shall be effective to bar every claim of any party named or referred to in the cause adverse to plaintiff’s title, and every adverse and inconsistent right, title, and interest therein of any such party…

(a) The complaint may include as defendants in such cause, in addition to such persons as appear of record to have, or are known to have or to assert, or who may have or assert, some claim to, or interest in, the lands described in the complaint adverse to the plaintiff’s right, …

The water wheels, steam engines, boilers, all shafting, whether upright or horizontal, and hangers for the same, except such as are used to drive a special machine, all drums, pulleys, wheels, gearing, steam pipes, gas pipes, gas fixtures, water pipes, and fixtures, kettles and v…

All other machinery, tools, and apparatus of every description, including all the articles specified in § 34-17-1 whenever they belong to some person other than the owner of the real estate to which they are attached, used, or employed in any manufacturing establishment, are decl…

Partition of the property mentioned in § 34-17-2 may be compelled between the owners thereof in the same manner as though the property were real estate.

Fixtures annexed to the freehold by a life tenant, or his or her assigns, may be removed during the continuance of the life estate, or within a reasonable time after its determination; and in determining what things so annexed are fixtures, the rules of the common law, which prev…

Section 34-17-4 shall not affect the right of the owner of land to make a different arrangement by will or otherwise as to the removal of fixtures, nor shall it in any way impair or affect the provisions of any will or other instrument by which an estate for life in land is creat…

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

(a)(1) In actions for nonpayment of rent, the summons for eviction for nonpayment of rent shall be in the form provided in § 34-18-56(g). At the time of filing of the complaint, the clerk shall enter the date of hearing upon the summons, which shall be fourteen (14) to twenty-fou…

Subject to additional definitions contained in subsequent sections of this chapter which apply to specific sections thereof, and unless the context otherwise requires, in this chapter: (1) “Abandonment” means the tenant has vacated the premises without notice to the landlord and …

Every duty under this chapter and every act which must be performed as a condition precedent to the exercise of a right or remedy under this chapter imposes an obligation of good faith in its performance or enforcement.

(a) If the court, as a matter of law, finds: (1) A rental agreement or any provision thereof was unconscionable when made, the court may refuse to enforce the agreement, enforce the remainder of the agreement without the unconscionable provision, or limit the application of any u…

(a)(1) A person has notice of a fact if: (i) He or she has actual knowledge of it; (ii) He or she has received a notice or notification of it; or (iii) From all the facts and circumstances known to him or her at the time in question he or she has reason to know that it exists. (2…

(a) A landlord and a tenant may include in a rental agreement terms and conditions not prohibited by this chapter or other rule of law, including rent, term of the agreement, and other provisions governing the rights and obligations of the parties. (1) If there are fees beyond th…

(a) If the landlord does not sign and deliver a written rental agreement signed and delivered to him or her by the tenant, acceptance of rent without reservation by the landlord gives the rental agreement the same effect as if it had been signed and delivered by the landlord. (b)…

(a) Prior to an increase in rent being imposed by a landlord for a residential tenancy, excluding an independent living facility, assisted living facility, or congregate care facility, notice of the increase shall be given in writing to any tenant by a landlord at least sixty (60…

(a) A rental agreement may not provide that the tenant: (1) Agrees to waive or forego rights or remedies under this chapter; (2) Authorizes any person to confess judgment on a claim arising out of the rental agreement; (3) Agrees to pay the landlord’s attorney’s fees inconsistent…

A rental agreement, assignment, conveyance, trust deed, or security instrument may not permit the receipt of rent free of the obligation to comply with § 34-18-22(a).

(a) A landlord may not demand or receive a security deposit, however denominated, in an amount or value in excess of one month’s periodic rent. (b) Upon termination of the tenancy, the amount of security deposit due to the tenant shall be the entire amount given by the tenant as …

(a) This chapter shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies. (b) Underlying purposes and policies of this chapter are to: (1) Simplify, clarify, modernize and revise the law governing the rental of dwelling units and the rights and ob…

(a) A landlord or any person authorized to enter into a rental agreement on his or her behalf shall disclose to the tenant in writing, at or before the commencement of the tenancy, the name, address and number of: (1) The person authorized to manage the premises; and (2) An owner…

At the commencement of the term a landlord shall deliver possession of the premises to the tenant in compliance with the rental agreement and § 34-18-22. The landlord may bring an action for possession against any person wrongfully in possession and may recover the damages provid…

(a) A landlord shall: (1) Comply with the requirements of applicable building and housing codes affecting health and safety; (2) Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition; (3) Keep all common areas of the premises …

(a) A landlord, when cited by a state or local minimum housing code enforcement agency for a housing code violation, shall, within thirty (30) days of receipt of the notice, deliver a copy of the notice of violation to each residential tenant of the building affected by said viol…

Whenever any landlord, either by his or her own labor or through the use of others acting on his or her behalf, undertakes physical alterations to an existing building which alterations create a residential apartment or apartments, and the landlord knew or should have known that …

A landlord who is not a resident of this state shall designate and continuously maintain an agent upon whom service may be made of any process, notice, or demand required or permitted by law to be served, including, but not limited to, notices of minimum housing code violations. …

(a)(1) A landlord who conveys premises that include a dwelling unit subject to a rental agreement in a good faith sale to a bona fide purchaser is relieved of liability under the rental agreement and this chapter as to events occurring after written notice to the tenant of the co…

A tenant shall: (1) Comply with all obligations primarily imposed upon tenants by applicable provisions of building and housing codes materially affecting health and safety; (2) Keep that part of the premises that he or she occupies and uses as clean and safe as the condition of …

(a) A landlord, from time to time, may adopt a rule or regulation, however described, concerning the tenant’s use and occupancy of the premises. It is enforceable against the tenant only if: (1) Its purpose is to promote the convenience, safety, or welfare of the tenants on the p…

(a) A tenant shall not unreasonably withhold consent to the landlord to enter into the dwelling unit in order to inspect the premises, make necessary or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations, or improvements, supply necessary or agreed services, or exhibit the dwelling unit to…

Unless otherwise agreed, a tenant shall occupy his or her dwelling unit only as a dwelling unit. The rental agreement may require that the tenant notify the landlord of any anticipated extended absence from the premises in excess of ten (10) days no later than the first day of th…

(a) Except as provided by this chapter, if there is a noncompliance by the landlord with the rental agreement or a noncompliance with § 34-18-22 materially affecting health and safety, the tenant may deliver a written notice to the landlord specifying the acts and omissions const…

(a) If the landlord fails to deliver possession of the dwelling unit to the tenant as provided in § 34-18-21, rent abates until possession is delivered and the tenant may: (1) Terminate the rental agreement upon at least five (5) days’ written notice to the landlord, and, upon te…

(a) Unless displaced by the provisions of this chapter, the principles of law and equity, including the law relating to capacity to contract, mutuality of obligations, principal and agent, real property, public health, safety, and fire prevention, estoppel, fraud, misrepresentati…

(a) If the landlord fails to comply with § 34-18-22(a)(1), (2), (4), (5), or (6), and the reasonable cost of compliance is less than five hundred dollars ($500) in the aggregate per year, the tenant may cause repairs to be done in a skilled manner, in compliance with applicable s…

(a) If, contrary to the rental agreement or § 34-18-22, the landlord willfully or negligently fails to supply heat, running water, hot water, electric, gas, or other essential service, the tenant may give reasonable notice to the landlord specifying the breach and may: (1) Take r…

(a) In an action for possession based upon nonpayment of rent or in an action for rent when the tenant is in possession, the tenant may counterclaim for any amount he or she may recover under the rental agreement or this chapter. In that event, the court, from time to time, may o…

(a) If the dwelling unit or premises are damaged or destroyed by fire or casualty to an extent that enjoyment of the dwelling unit is substantially impaired, the tenant may: (1) Immediately vacate the premises and notify the landlord in writing within fourteen (14) days thereafte…