Temporary housing responibilities of landlord to tenant during repairs.

Dear Landlord With Leak: If the water leak was your responsibility (or your management), then you are indeed responsible for the "reasonable cost of like-kind living arrangements during the displacement period". Examples of the Landlord's responsibility for water leaks would include: roofs, windows, water heaters, plumbing. Examples when the landlord may NOT be responsible would include: a tenant's water bed, a tenant's plugged plumbing fixture, a tenant's overflowing bathtub. Inasmuch as the question, as posed, basically admits fault, then the analysis should focus on what temporary quarters are "reasonable" - there is no firm/final answer here, other than to guide you as follows: the Landlord should provide a "like kind" unit (example: same number of beds, kitchenette, laundry, and bathroom). Do you have to rent a House for the tenant ? No. Should you try to rent a unit with kitchenette and the like ? Yes. If you can't find a replacement unit in close proximity to the rental that has the "like kind" features, then you may have to pay for Hotel space together with reasonable eating allowances and laundry allowances. Please understand that this question was answered only with the information made available and the response might change upon further review of the facts. Best of luck. J. Greer

Dear landlord, Look at it like this: the tenants paid you for a house to live in. While the house they contracted for is unavailable, you have to provide them with alternate accommodations. It is your responsibility to make repairs. Sometimes, these repairs might be expensive but it's part of the cost of doing business. Your tenants have been there for 30 years---you are lucky to have such stable tenants.