Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in North Carolina

Our lease agreement with a tenant renting a town home in North Carolina has a clause dealing with MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR. It states:

�Tenant will, at its sole expense, keep and maintain the Premises and appurtenances in good and sanitary condition and repair during the term of this Agreement and any renewal thereof. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, Tenant shall:" .......eleven specific parts of the townhome are referred to at this point in the lease as being the tenants responsibility to maintain and repair. One of these deals with "keeping AC filters clean", but none of these 11 specific statements addresses repair of the AC unit or the clothes dryer, both of which have recently stopped working.

Can the word "appurtenances", be interpreted to include repair or replacement of the AC or clothes dryer? Webster defines appurtanences as "things added to a more important thing, specifically: apparatus or equipment; accessories".

Thank you for considering this question.


Asked on 9/25/11, 2:32 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Rachel Hunter

Appurtenances are not appliances. They are part of the premises. Mowing the grass is not the same as keeping the heating/cooling system operating or the dryer working. A landlord has an obligation to keep the appliances in working order.

I would have to see the whole lease, but if there is ambiguity, you as the landlord presumably drafted it or had a lawyer do so with the NC statutes in mind, and it might be construed in the tenant's favor.

These are my thoughts, although another landlord-tenant attorney may have another opinion.

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Answered on 9/27/11, 11:10 am


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