Sam comes home from work one day and finds two letters in his mailbox. one is an eviction notice from his landlord, quinn, telling him he has to be out of the apartmentin 30 days because his barking device has been bothering the other tenants. it also states that sam was not allowed to conduct a business from his apartment. sam is angry because he specifically told quinn that he was working on a new invention, and quinn had wished him luck. the second letter is from the chain store, demanding that sam deliver the promised 1,000 units immediately. specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

a. analyze the elements of this case to determine whether a valid contract exists between sam and the chain store. support your response by identifying the elements of a valid contract in your analysis.
b. assume there is not a valid contract between sam and the chain store. analyze the elements of a quasi-contract and a promissory estoppel to determine whetherthe chain store would prevail on a claim of either. why or why not? include support for your analysis.
c. identify the rights and obligations of both the landlord and tenant under a standard residential lease agreement.
d. based upon those rights and obligations, does sam’s landlord have groundsto evict? why or why not?
e. further, what defenses might sam raise to an eviction action? support your response.

Consider the following explanations

Explanation:

Answer to the first question:

No valid contract exists between Sam and the chain store. For any contract to be valid, it should come under the purview of law. All the conditions and liabilities must be properly written down and registered and they should be agreed upon by both the parties. Though an oral contract is a valid one, it can be hard to prove the legality of such contract as there are no written legal bindings.

Answer to the second question:

The quasi contract case of the chain store will not prevail, as quasi contract is a contract which is enforced by a court of law upon the parties, whether they may agree to it or not. In this case, court's order was not involved.

Promissory Estoppel helps and affected party to recover from a loss suffered due to one's promise not kept. For legal enforcement, it must have the three elements, promisor, promisee and detriment suffered by the promisee. In this case, the promisee is the chain store which was promised by Sam, the promisor that he will ship 1000 instruments to the chain store. However, he was not able to supply the same because of the eviction notice given by the landlord of Sam. Hence, the detriment is suffered by the Chain store due to promise of Sam which was not kept. This needs to be proved by the chain store in a court with reasonable belief that they have actually suffered losses. If reasonable cause is produced by the chain store they have a strong case on the basis of promissory estoppel.

Answer to the third question:

Rights of landlord:

Access to property for inspection, repair and maintenance.

Timely receipt of rent payment with gradual increase in rent over a period of time.

Collection of security deposit before signing lease agreement.

Can restrict tenant from sub-letting his property.

Can evict tenant if property is damaged or lease contract terms are violated.

Obligations of landlord:

To provide tenant with a property with proper living conditions.

To provide tenant with electric and water supply.

To carry out necessary repair and maintenance of the property for which he is responsible under the contract.

To get the lease agreement registered with proper authority.

To provide the tenant with prior written notice before terminating the contract.

Rights of tenant:

To live a peaceful and happy life. If disturbance occurs due to some neighbor, he can ask them or the landlord to stop or can make a formal complaint.

Entitled for a standard accommodation with electric supply and water supply.

Entitled for privacy and landlord cannot enter his accommodation without his prior permission except in case of emergency.

Entitled for reimbursement for any repairs carried out for which the landlord is responsible.

Right to prior written notice for termination of contract or review in rent.

Obligations of tenant:

Pay the rent on time.

Pay the charges mention in the lease agreement.

Keep the property maintained and in good condition.

To inform the landlord for carrying out any repairs in the property.

To give access to the landlord for inspection, with prior appointment.

To live in a socialized manner without causing disturbance to the landlord and neighbors.

To comply with all the terms and conditions of the lease agreement.

To give prior written notice before evicting the property or ending the lease agreement.

Answer to the fourth question:

Based on the above rights and obligations of the tenant and landlord, Sam's landlord has proper ground to evict Sam from his property. As per the lease agreement, Sam was given the property for residential purpose only and not for carrying out any scientific work or invention. His work was causing nuisance and disturbance to the neighbors which was breach of terms of the lease agreement. Sam was entitled for use of the property only for living and peaceful purposes.

Answer to the fifth question:

Sam can raise his defense that he had told the landlord before signing the lease agreement that he was working on a new invention and at that time landlord never raised any objection. He also never questioned about the type of work that will be carried out by Sam in the rented property. He also did not include the terms in the lease agreement on which Sam was insisting hard, to avoid any future obligations.