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Show i ! POPULAR TALKS OX LAW. I (Copyrighted, 1!J05. by William C. Sprague. Prcsi- j. J dent The Sprague Correspondence School of Law.) 1 j Landlord and Tenant. I ': Xo. '2. The Tenant's Rights to Alter the Premise-. J Alteration means something more than repair. ; To alter is to change the form or nature to make i different. To repair is to retain the form and nature, but to make more perfect. The, tenant Ikh a right generally to make repairs; indeed, without anything in the lease to that effect, he is hound . to hand the property over to Ids landlord at the I expiration of his lease in the condition in which he took it, ordinary wear and tear excepted. Bur ! a tenant has not the right without his landlord's I consent to make alterations, even if the alterations j j are improvements and admitted to be such by the I landlord, When one rents promises he is presume.! to be satisfied with them as they stand, and the landlord has the right to expect them to remain I as at the time the lease was given, subject to his right as against the tenant to have the premises 1 kept up. Where premi.-os are rented for a particular pur- pose known to the landlord, the law will presume that the tenant has the right to make any altera- tions reasonably needed to fit the premises for the Use. Where, however, the landlord does not know the purpose, he has a right to expect that they will be used for the purpose for which they are nat- ! ! urally fitted without alteration. Where in the lease there is a clause stating j that the premises are "to be used" for a particular purpose, naming it, the question sometimes arises whether this amounts to a restriction on the use, ; so that, where the tenant uses the property for an- ; other purpose, he has broken his lease. There is an uncertainty on this point due to a variety of opinions expressed by the courts. There is no question, however, in a case where the restriction ! is made positive and definite, as where the lease; reads that tho premises shall be used only for som particular purpose, naming it. Where, therefore, the landlord desires to restrain the tenant from using the promises for any other than a particular purpose he should make the restriction positive. iiiii-rauons. tnen, without permission ot tho landlord, are in general not allowable. The tenant cannot cut a window through an outer or inner wall, nor open a fireplace, nor erect a partition, not-cut not-cut a hole through the floor for pipes or wires or elevators; nor can he move a partition to change the shape or size of rooms, nor change the place of the staircase, nor move the outbuildings, nor destroy trees or flowering shrubs, nor change their location; nor can he move a fence, nor turn a gras.-i plot into a garden. Tenants may make such alterations as are not permanent in their nature where they may bo re- moved at the expiration of the lease without injury to the property. The ordinary remedy for the landlord where the tenant proposes to make an unauthorized alteration altera-tion is a writ of injunction, though a suit for damages dam-ages will afterwards lie against the tenant. Reverting again to the matter of use, it should be said that where there is no restriction as to usf contained in the lease, yet the tenant may be re- 1 strained by the landlord from using the premises 1 I for a purpose or in a manner contrary to law. I I In our next talk we shall consider the right of f j the tenant, on leqving the leased premises to re- 1 move fixtures. |
