Opinion ID: 1241155
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: repair

Text: The trial court properly instructed the jury that in order to establish a defense based on breach of the implied warranty of habitability, the landlord must be given a reasonable time to correct the defect while the tenant remains in possession. (See fn. 4.) To maintain a cause of action for damages based on breach of implied warranty of habitability the landlord must be given a reasonable time to repair when the tenant remains in possession. ( Hinson v. Delis, supra, 26 Cal. App.3d 62, 70; Quevedo v. Braga, supra, 72 Cal. App.3d Supp. 1, 8; see Pollard v. Saxe & Yolles Dev. Co., supra, 12 Cal.3d 374, 380.) The same rule should be followed when the breach is urged as a defense in unlawful detainer actions. As we have seen, the basis for permitting defense of breach of implied warranty in unlawful detainer actions is that the breach affects rent. The tenant's statutory remedies to claim constructive eviction or use one month's rent for repair are similarly conditioned on the landlord's failure to repair within a reasonable time. (Civ. Code, § 1942.) There was no error in the instruction on reasonable time to repair.