Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/10/616.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 08:03:33+00:00

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Gilbert T. Graham and Lawrence L. Curtice for Petitioner.
Allan David Heskin, Myron Moskovitz and Rosalyn M. Chapman as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.
No appearance for Respondent or for Real Party in Interest.
Under traditional common law doctrine, long followed in California, a landlord was under no duty to maintain leased dwellings in habitable condition during the term of the lease. In the past several years, however, the highest courts of a rapidly growing number of states and the District of Columbia have reexamined the bases of the old common law rule and have uniformly determined that it no longer corresponds to the realities of the modern urban landlord-tenant relationship. Accordingly, each of these jurisdictions has discarded the old common law rule and has adopted an implied warranty of habitability for residential leases. fn. 1 In June 1972, the California Court of Appeal reviewed this emerging out-of-state precedent in the case of Hinson v. Delis (1972) 26 Cal. App. 3d 62 [102 Cal. Rptr. 661], and, persuaded by the reasoning of these decisions, held that a warranty of habitability is implied by law in residential leases in California. We granted a hearing in the instant case, and a companion case, fn. 2 to consider the Hinson decision and to determine whether the breach of such implied warranty may be raised as a defense by a tenant in an unlawful detainer action.
First, as the recent line of out-of-state cases comprehensively demonstrate, the factual and legal premises underlying the original common law rule in this area have long ceased to exist; continued adherence to the time-worn doctrine conflicts with the expectations and demands of the contemporary landlord-tenant relationship and with modern legal principles in analogous fields. To remain viable, the common law must reflect the realities of present day society; an implied warranty of habitability in residential leases must therefore be recognized.
Second, we shall point out that the statutory "repair and deduct" provisions of Civil Code section 1941 et seq. do not preclude this development in the common law, for such enactments were never intended to be the exclusive remedy for tenants but have always been viewed as complementary to existing common law rights.
Finally, we have concluded that a landlord's breach of this warranty of habitability may be raised as a defense in an unlawful detainer action. Past California cases have established that a defendant in an unlawful detainer action may raise any affirmative defense which, if established, will preserve the tenant's possession of the premises. As we shall explain, a landlord's breach of a warranty of habitability directly relates to whether any rent is "due and owing" by the tenant; hence, such breach may be determinative of whether the landlord or tenant is entitled to possession of the premises upon nonpayment of rent. Accordingly, the tenant may properly raise the issue of warranty of habitability in an unlawful detainer action.
1. The facts of the instant case.
We begin with a brief review of the facts of the instant case, which reveal a somewhat typical unlawful detainer action. On September 27, 1972, the landlord Jack Sumski commenced an unlawful detainer action in the San Francisco Small Claims Court seeking possession of the leased premises and $300 in back rent. The tenant admitted nonpayment of rent but defended the action on the ground that the landlord had failed to maintain the leased premises in a habitable condition. The small claims court awarded possession of the premises to the landlord and entered a money judgment for $225 against the tenant.
The tenant then appealed the decision to the San Francisco Superior Court, where a de novo trial was held pursuant to section 117j of the Code of Civil Procedure. In support of his claim of uninhabitability, the tenant submitted a copy of an October 1972 inspection report of the San Francisco Department of Public Works disclosing some 80 housing code [10 Cal. 3d 621] violations in the building in question, as well as an order of the department scheduling a condemnation hearing for January 19, 1973. In addition, in testimony at trial, petitioner and his roommate detailed a long list of serious defects in the leased premises which had not been repaired by the landlord after notice and which they claimed rendered the premises uninhabitable. Some of the more serious defects described by the tenants included (1) the collapse and nonrepair of the bathroom ceiling, (2) the continued presence of rats, mice, and cockroaches on the premises, (3) the lack of any heat in four of the apartment's rooms, (4) plumbing blockages, (5) exposed and faulty wiring, and (6) an illegally installed and dangerous stove. fn. 3 The landlord apparently did not attempt to contest the presence of serious defects in the leased premises, but instead claimed that such defects afforded the tenant no defense in an unlawful detainer action.
The superior court judge ultimately agreed with the landlord's contention, holding that the "repair and deduct" provisions of Civil Code section 1941 et seq. constituted the tenant's exclusive remedy under these circumstances. fn. 4 Accordingly, the superior court entered judgment for the landlord, awarding him $225 and possession of the premises.
The tenant thereafter sought certification and transfer of the case to the Court of Appeal (see Cal. Rules of Court, rules 62, 63), but the superior court denied the request. The tenant then sought a writ of mandate or prohibition from the Court of Appeal, contending that the trial court had erroneously failed to follow the Hinson decision. The Court of Appeal denied the writ summarily; the tenant thereafter sought a hearing in this court.  Because of the statewide importance of the general issues presented (cf. Treber v. Superior Court (1968) 68 Cal. 2d 128, 131 [65 Cal. Rptr. 330, 436 P.2d 330]; Brown v. Superior Court (1971) 5 Cal. 3d 509, 515 [96 Cal. Rptr. 584, 487 P.2d 1224]), we exercised [10 Cal. 3d 622] our discretion and issued an alternative writ of mandate, fn. 5 staying the execution of judgment conditioned upon the tenant's payment into court of all rent which had accrued since the superior court judgment and all future rent as it became due. fn. 6 We now turn to the general legal issues presented.
2. The transformation of the landlord-tenant relationship and developments in analogous areas of law compel the recognition of a common law implied warranty of habitability in residential leases in California.
In recent years, however, a growing number of courts have begun to re-examine these "settled" common law rules in light of contemporary conditions, and, after thorough analysis, all of these courts have discarded the traditional doctrine as incompatible with contemporary social conditions and modern legal values. This emerging line of decisions, along with a veritable flood of academic commentaries, fn. 7 demonstrates the obsolescence of the traditional common law rule absolving a landlord of any duty to maintain leased premises in a habitable condition during the term of the lease.
In the past, California courts have increasingly recognized the largely contractual nature of contemporary lease agreements and have frequently analyzed such leases' terms pursuant to contractual principles. (See, e.g., Medico-Dental etc. Co. v. Horton & Converse (1942) 21 Cal. 2d 411, 418-419 [132 P.2d 457]; Groh v. Kover's Bull Pen, Inc. (1963) 221 Cal. App. 2d 611 [34 Cal. Rptr. 637]. See generally Note, The California Lease-Contract or Conveyance? (1952) 4 Stan.L.Rev. 244.) Similarly, leading legal scholars in the field have long stressed the propriety of a more contractually oriented analysis of lease agreements. (1 American Law of Property (Casner ed. 1952) § 3.11, pp. 202-205; 2 Powell, Real Property (rev. ed. 1967) ¶ 221 , p. 179; 6 Williston, Contracts (3d ed. 1962) § 890A, pp. 592-613.) Our holding in this case reflects our belief that the application of contract principles, including the mutual dependency of covenants, is particularly appropriate in dealing with residential leases of urban dwelling units.
Modern urbanization has not only undermined the validity of utilizing general property concepts in analyzing landlord-tenant relations, but it has also significantly altered the factual setting directly relevant to the more specific duty of maintaining leased premises. As noted above, at the inception of the common law rule, any structure on the leased premises was likely to be of the most simple nature, easily inspected by the lessee to determine if it fit his needs, and easily repairable by the typically versatile tenant farmer. Contemporary urban housing and the contemporary urban tenant stand in marked contrast to this agrarian model.
First, the increasing complexity of modern apartment buildings not only renders them much more difficult and expensive to repair than the living quarters of earlier days, but also makes adequate inspection of the premises by a prospective tenant a virtual impossibility; complex heating, electrical and plumbing systems are hidden from view, and the landlord, who has had experience with the building, is certainly in a much better position to discover and to cure dilapidations in the premises. Moreover, in a multiple-unit dwelling repair will frequently require access to equipment and areas solely in the control of the landlord.
The Court of Appeal decision in Hinson v. Delis (1972) 26 Cal. App. 3d 62 [102 Cal. Rptr. 661], was decided in the wake of this rapidly burgeoning, uniform trend of out-of-state decisions. fn. 13 In Hinson, after a landlord had refused to repair a number of defects that had developed in the tenant's apartment -- including a rotting bathroom floor, a defective toilet and an improperly fitting, drafty front door -- the tenant withheld over two months rent, $200, and requested an inspection of the premises by a local housing inspector. The inspection confirmed the existence of a number of substantial housing code violations, and when the landlord received an official letter from the inspector he finally made the needed repairs. The landlord then demanded that the tenant pay the $200 that had been withheld, but, although the tenant ultimately agreed to resume paying her full rent as of the date of the completion of repairs, she continued to insist that she did not owe the full rent for the period when the premises had been in an unfit condition.
The tenant filed a declaratory judgment action seeking a declaration that her obligation to pay full rent was dependent upon the landlord's compliance "with his duty to substantially obey the housing codes and make the premises habitable," and also seeking to enjoin the landlord from evicting her during the pendency of the action. The landlord agreed not to evict the plaintiff during the court proceedings, but the trial court concluded that although the landlord had violated several housing code regulations, the [10 Cal. 3d 629] plaintiff had no legal or equitable right to unilaterally withhold rent. Accordingly, the trial court entered a declaratory judgment that the tenant owed the landlord the full back rent.
The Court of Appeal, however, relying heavily on the line of out-of-state decisions cited above, reversed the trial court's judgment and held that a warranty of habitability was implied by law in the tenant's lease, and that a landlord's breach of such warranty could justify a tenant's refusal to pay the full amount of the rent. The Hinson court emphasized, however, that "the tenant is not absolved from all liability for rent, but remains liable for the reasonable rental value of the premises, as determined by the trial court, for such time as the premises were in violation of the housing codes." (26 Cal.App.3d at p. 70.) The court therefore remanded the case to the trial court to determine to what extent, if any, the landlord's alleged breach of an implied warranty of habitability excused the tenant's rental obligation.
For the reasons discussed at length above, we believe that the traditional common law rule has outlived its usefulness; we agree with the Hinson court's determination that modern conditions compel the recognition of a common law implied warranty of habitability in residential leases.
3. The "repair and deduct" remedy of section 1941 et seq. of the Civil Code was not intended as the exclusive remedy for tenants in this field and does not preclude the recognition of a common law warranty of habitability.
 The landlord in the present case suggests, however, that sections 1941 through 1942.1 of the Civil Code foreclose this court from adopting a common law implied waranty of habitability. In general, these sections place a statutory duty of maintenance and repair upon lessors of residential property and authorize a tenant, after giving reasonable notice of "dilapidations" to his landlord, either to quit the premises without further liability for rent or to repair the dilapidations himself and to deduct the cost of such repairs -- up to one month's rent -- from his rent. A 1970 amendment to section 1942 prohibits a tenant from using the "repair and deduct" option more often than "once in any 12-month period." The landlord argues that the remedies provided the tenant in section 1942 were intended as the exclusive remedies for any failure of the landlord in his duty to repair. As noted earlier, the trial court in the instant case accepted the landlord's contention on this point, but we do not agree.
Although past cases have held that the Legislature intended the remedies afforded by section 1942 to be the sole procedure for enforcing the statutory duty on landlords imposed by section 1941 (see, e.g., Van Every v. [10 Cal. 3d 630] Ogg (1881) 59 Cal. 563, 566; Seiber v. Blanc (1888) 76 Cal. 173, 174 [18 P. 260]), no decision has suggested that the Legislature designed these statutory provisions to displace the common law in fixing the respective rights of landlord and tenant. On the contrary, the statutory remedies of section 1942 have traditionally been viewed as additional to, and complementary of, the tenant's common law rights.
Thus, we conclude that Civil Code section 1941 et seq. do not preclude the development of new common law principles in this area, and we now hold that a warranty of habitability is implied by law in residential leases in California.
4. A tenant may raise a landlord's breach of an implied warranty of habitability as a defense in an unlawful detainer proceeding.
[4a] The landlord in a companion case (see fn. 2) contends, however, that even if we should uphold such a warranty, we could never permit a tenant to raise a landlord's breach of it in an unlawful detainer action. Relying initially on the fact that the Hinson decision itself involved a declaratory judgment action and not an unlawful detainer action, the landlord maintains that the trial court's refusal to permit the defense of a "warranty of habitability" in the instant case fully conforms with Hinson. We cannot agree.
The landlord contends, however, that to preserve the summary nature of the procedure, California courts have in the past limited the matters which may be raised by a defendant in an unlawful detainer action, and that these judicially created limits foreclose the tenant from utilizing a breach of warranty defense.
 The basic teaching of Knowles, Lakeside, and the entire line of cases these decisions reflect, fn. 17 is that a defense normally permitted because it "arises out of the subject matter" of the original suit is generally excluded [10 Cal. 3d 633] in an unlawful detainer action if such defense is extrinsic to the narrow issue of possession, which the unlawful detainer procedure seeks speedily to resolve. fn. 18 Neither Knowles, Lakeside nor any other California decision, however, prohibits a tenant from interposing a defense which does directly relate to the issue of possession and which, if established, would result in the tenant's retention of the premises. fn. 19 The thrust of the Knowles' line of [10 Cal. 3d 634] cases is basically to prevent tenants from frustrating the summary statutory remedy through introduction of extraneous matter; the decisions accomplish this objective by confining the unlawful detainer action to issues directly relevant to the ultimate question of possession.
The landlord contends, however, that the recognition of such a defense will completely undermine the speedy procedure contemplated for unlawful detainer actions. In the first place, however, while the state does have a significant interest in preserving a speedy repossession remedy, that interest cannot justify the exclusion of matters which are essential to a just resolution of the question of possession at issue. As the Court of Appeal observed in Abstract Investment Co. v. Hutchinson (1962) 204 Cal. App. 2d 242, 249 [22 Cal.Rptr. 309]: "Certainly the interest in preserving the summary nature of an action cannot outweigh the interest of doing substantial justice. To hold the preservation of the summary proceeding of paramount importance would be analogous to the 'tail wagging the dog.'"
Second, we believe the landlord's contention greatly exaggerates the detrimental effect of the recognition of this defense on the summary unlawful detainer procedure. As illustrated by the numerous California precedents cited and discussed above (see fn. 19), defendants in unlawful detainer actions have long been permitted to raise those affirmative defenses -- both legal and equitable -- that are directly relevant to the issue of possession; over the years, the unlawful detainer action has remained an efficient, summary procedure. We see no reason why the availability of a warranty of habitability defense should frustrate the summary procedure when the availability of these other defenses has not.
In the instant case, the tenant defended the unlawful detainer action on the grounds that the premises were not in a habitable condition; in support of this claim, as noted above, he presented a city housing inspection report detailing some 80 violations of local housing and building codes, including major defects in the building's plumbing and electrical facilities. At trial the tenant also testified that he had repeatedly informed the landlord of plumbing blockages, a collapsed bathroom ceiling, lack of heat in four rooms, exposed and faulty wiring and an illegally installed and dangerous stove, but that the landlord had failed to make any repairs within a reasonable period of time. Although this evidence of substantial defects in the premises was not controverted at trial, the court granted judgment for the landlord, on the theory that, whatever the condition of the premises, the tenant's exclusive remedy was provided by section 1941 et seq. of the Civil Code. As discussed above, that conclusion was erroneous and thus we must remand this case to the trial court so that it may determine whether the landlord has breached the implied warranty of habitability as defined in this opinion.
In the instant case, the tenant has already quit the premises and thus the only matter to be determined on remand is the question of money damages owing to the landlord. In unlawful detainer actions generally, however, if the trial court determines that the landlord's breach of warranty is total, and that the tenant owes no rent whatsoever, the court should, of course, enter judgment for the tenant in the unlawful detainer action. If the court determines, however, that the damages from the breach of warranty justify only a partial reduction in rent, the tenant may maintain possession of the premises only if he pays that portion of the back rent that is owing, as directed by the trial court. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 1174; cf. Academy Spires, Inc. v. Brown (1970) 111 N.J.Super. 447 [268 A.2d 556, 562]; Javins v. First National Realty Corporation (1970) 428 F.2d 1071, 1083 [138 App.D.C. 369].) If the tenant fails to pay such sum, the landlord is entitled to a judgment for possession. Finally, of course, if the trial court finds that the landlord has not breached the warranty of habitability, it should immediately enter judgment in favor of the landlord.
In summary, we have concluded that the traditional common law rule which imposed no warranty of habitability in residential leases is a product of an earlier, land-oriented era, which bears no reasonable relation to the social or legal realities of the landlord-tenant relationship of today. The United States Supreme Court has observed that "the body of private property law ..., more than almost any other branch of law, has been shaped by distinctions whose validity is largely historical." (Jones v. United States [10 Cal. 3d 640] (1960) 362 U.S. 257, 266 [4 L. Ed. 2d 697, 705, 80 S. Ct. 725, 78 A.L.R.2d 233]), and on previous occasions in recent years our own court has responded to the changes wrought by modern conditions by discarding outworn common law property doctrines. (See Rowland v. Christian (1968) 69 Cal. 2d 108 [70 Cal. Rptr. 97, 443 P.2d 561, 32 A.L.R.3d 496].) In taking a similar step today, we do not exercise a novel prerogative, but merely follow the well-established duty of common law courts to reflect contemporary social values and ethics. As Justice Cardozo wrote in his celebrated essay "The Growth of the Law" chapter V, pages 136-137: "A rule which in its origin was the creation of the courts themselves, and was supposed in the making to express the mores of the day, may be abrogated by courts when the mores have so changed that perpetuation of the rule would do violence to the social conscience. ... This is not usurpation. It is not even innovation. It is the reservation for ourselves of the same power of creation that built up the common law through its exercise by the judges of the past."
Let a peremptory writ of mandate issue directing the superior court to vacate the San Francisco Superior Court judgment entered in the case of Sumski v. Green, S.C.A. No. 11836 on January 3, 1973, and instructing the court to proceed with the trial of the unlawful detainer action in accordance with the views expressed herein.
Wright, C. J., McComb, J., Mosk, J., Burke, J., Sullivan, J., and Clark, J., concurred.
FN 1. See Pines v. Perssion (1961) 14 Wis.2d 590 [111 N.W.2d 409]; Lemle v. Breeden (1969) 51 Hawaii 426 [462 P.2d 470, 40 A.L.R.3d 637]; Javins v. First National Realty Corporation (1970) 428 F.2d 1071 [138 App.D.C. 369], cert. den., 400 U.S. 925 [27 L. Ed. 2d 185, 91 S. Ct. 186]; Marini v. Ireland (1970) 56 N.J. 130 [265 A.2d 526, 40 A.L.R.3d 1356]; Kline v. Burns (1971) 111 N.H. 87 [276 A.2d 248]; Jack Spring, Inc. v. Little (1972) 50 Ill. 2d 351 [280 N.E.2d 208]; Mease v. Fox (Iowa 1972) 200 N.W.2d 791; Boston Housing Authority v. Hemingway (Mass. 1973) 293 N.E.2d 831.
FN 2. Hall v. Municipal Court, S.F. 22992, also decided this day, post, p. 641 [111 Cal. Rptr. 721, 517 P.2d 1185].
FN 4. The superior court judgment states: "The court finds that defendant has not complied with sec. 1941 Civil Code et seq. and is not entitled to relief or withholding of rent by reason of such failure to comply."
FN 5. The propriety of relief by writ of mandate under these circumstances was recognized in Schweiger v. Superior Court (1970) 3 Cal. 3d 507, 517-518 [90 Cal. Rptr. 729, 476 P.2d 97].
FN 6. Petitioner Green failed to make the requisite payments of rent into court, but instead quit the premises, allegedly because of continued deterioration of the dwelling; thus, our stay of execution is no longer in force. The landlord claims that this development has rendered the case moot, and he urges that the action be dismissed. Petitioner has properly pointed out, however, that the trial court judgment of $225 is still outstanding against him. Inasmuch as this outstanding adverse money judgment was rendered without consideration of the effects of a possible breach of an implied warranty of habitability, the present controversy is not moot.
Moreover, because of the general importance of the underlying warranty of habitability issue and the frequency with which this issue will arise, we believe that in any event we should resolve the question in the instant case. As we stated recently in Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Fales (1973) 8 Cal. 3d 712, 715-716 [106 Cal. Rptr. 21, 505 P.2d 213]: "If an action involves a matter of continuing public interest and the issue is likely to recur, a court may exercise an inherent discretion to resolve that issue, even though an event occurring during its pendency would normally render the matter moot. [Citations.]"
FN 8. Section 33250 of the Health and Safety Code, enacted in 1970, documents this condition in California. The section states: "[The Legislature] finds and declares that there continues to exist throughout the state a seriously inadequate supply of safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons and families of low income. This condition is contrary to the public interest and threatens the health, safety, welfare, comfort and security of the people of this state."
FN 11. Indeed, even before the turn of the century, common law courts had recognized an implied warranty of habitability in leases of furnished rooms or furnished houses. In the seminal case of Ingalls v. Hobbs (1892) 156 Mass. 348, 350 [31 N.E. 286]) the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts explained why the traditional no warranty of habitability rule did not apply to such rentals: "[T]here are good reasons why a different rule should apply to one who hires a furnished room, or a furnished house .... Its fitness for immediate use ... is a far more important element entering into the contract than when there is a mere lease of real estate. ... An important part of what the hirer pays for is the opportunity to enjoy it without delay, and without the expense of preparing it for use. It is very difficult, and often impossible, for one to determine on inspection whether the house and its appointments are fit for the use for which they are immediately wanted, and the doctrine of caveat emptor, which is ordinarily applicable to a lessee of real estate, would often work injustice if applied to cases of this kind. It would be unreasonable to hold, under such circumstances, that the landlord does not impliedly agree that what he is letting is a house suitable for occupation in its condition at the time."
Recent cases have recognized that the rationale underlying the Ingalls court's adoption of an implied warranty of habitability in the rental of furnished dwellings is now applicable to urban residential leases generally. (See, e.g., Boston Housing Authority v. Hemingway (1973) ___ Mass. ___ [293 N.E.2d 831, 841]; Javins v. First National Realty Corporation (1970) 428 F.2d 1071, 1078 [138 App.D.C. 369].) Our decision today may be seen as a logical development of the common law principles embodied in the Ingalls decision.
FN 13. The Hinson decision was decided prior to the Illinois, Iowa, and Massachusetts decisions cited in footnote 1, but subsequent to all the other out-of-state authority.
FN 16. Section 1170 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that in summary unlawful detainer proceedings "the defendant may appear and answer or demur" (italics added), and under section 431.30, an "answer" may contain "[a] statement of any new matter constituting a defense" but may not claim affirmative relief. Thus, nothing in the statutory scheme precludes a defendant from interposing an affirmative defense in an unlawful detainer proceeding.
FN 17. See, e.g., Arnold v. Krigbaum (1915) 169 Cal. 143, 145 [146 P. 423]; Cheney v. Trauzettel (1937) 9 Cal. 2d 158, 159 [69 P.2d 832]; Knight v. Black (1912) 19 Cal. App. 518, 527-528 [126 P. 512]; D'Amico v. Riedel (1949) 95 Cal. App. 2d 6, 8 [212 P.2d 52].
FN 18. An exception to this rule has been recognized when the tenant has voluntarily surrendered possession of the premises before the trial of the unlawful detainer action. (See, e.g., Servais v. Klein (1931) 112 Cal. App. 26, 36 [296 P. 123]; Heller v. Melliday (1943) 60 Cal. App. 2d 689, 697 [141 P.2d 447].) In such a case, the right to possession would no longer be at issue and thus the need for a speedy procedure, underlying the rule, would evaporate.
FN 19. Although several Court of Appeal decisions have suggested that the Knowles doctrine precludes the introduction of all affirmative defenses in unlawful detainer actions except for "equitable" defenses (see, e.g., Union Oil Co. v. Chandler (1970) 4 Cal. App. 3d 716, 721-722 [84 Cal. Rptr. 756]; Rydell v. Beverly Hills P. & P. Co. (1927) 88 Cal. App. 216, 219 [262 P. 818]; Knight v. Black (1912) 19 Cal. App. 518, 527-528 [126 P. 512]), this characterization is inaccurate on two grounds. First, past cases have not permitted the interposition of any conceivable equitable defense, but have allowed only those defenses which, if established, would preclude the landlord from recovering possession of the property. Second, California decisions have at the same time permitted the introduction of "legal" defenses whenever such defenses, if proven, would have preserved possession in the tenant.
Two of the more recent unlawful detainer cases, Abstract Investment Co. v. Hutchinson (1962) 204 Cal. App. 2d 242 [22 Cal. Rptr. 309] and Schweiger v. Superior Court (1970) 3 Cal. 3d 507 [98 Cal. Rptr. 729, 476 P.2d 97], provide perhaps the clearest indication that the determination of whether a defense may be raised in such a proceeding does not turn on whether such defense is "equitable" or "legal" in nature, but rather upon whether the establishment of the defense will preclude the removal of the tenant from the premises. In Abstract Investment the court permitted a tenant to raise the landlord's alleged racially discriminatory motive as a defense in an unlawful detainer action. The court reasoned that if such discrimination were established, constitutional principles would bar the state from giving affirmative aid to the landlord's eviction efforts; hence, the proffered defense was directly relevant to whether the tenant could retain possession of the premises. Although the court noted the "equitable" considerations involved, the tenant's defense, in light of its constitutional basis, could at least equally be characterized as "legal" in nature.
FN 23. We also believe that the standards of "tenantability" set out in Civil Code section 1941.1, though not strictly applicable in this context of their own force, may provide some helpful guidance in determining whether a landlord has satisfied the common law warranty of habitability.

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