Opinion ID: 1864539
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the motley and multiform uniform residential landlord and tenant act

Text: Before a detailed factual background for the questions of first impression in this appeal, we observe that the Nebraska Legislature, in 1974, enacted the URLTA to simplify, clarify, modernize, and revise landlord-tenant law, as well as [t]o make uniform the law among those states which enact URLTA. § 76-1402. However, notwithstanding the statutory objective mentioned in § 76-1402, we note that the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, approved by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, has 43 sections which contain substantive provisions relevant to the landlord-tenant relationship for residential real estate and that 30 of those 43 sections have been amended by or deleted from the Nebraska act. See Unif. Residential Landlord and Tenant Act §§ 1.101 et seq., 7B U.L.A. 427 et seq. (1972). Nevertheless, § 76-1403 provides that [u]nless displaced by the provisions of [URLTA], the principles of law and equity ... supplement its [URLTA's] provisions. Section 76-1405(2) governs remedies under URLTA: Any right or obligation declared by [URLTA] is enforceable by action unless the provision declaring it specifies a different and limited effect. URLTA also relates to security deposits and their return by the landlord: (2) Upon termination of the tenancy property or money held by the landlord as prepaid rent and security may be applied to the payment of rent and the amount of damages which the landlord has suffered by reason of the tenant's noncompliance with the rental agreement or section 76-1421 [tenant to maintain dwelling]. The balance, if any, and a written itemization shall be delivered or mailed to the tenant within fourteen days after demand and designation of the location where payment may be made or mailed. (3) If the landlord fails to comply with subsection (2) the tenant may recover the property and money due him and reasonable attorney's fees. § 76-1416. Section 76-1421(2) provides that a tenant shall upon termination of the tenancy place the dwelling unit in as clean condition, excepting ordinary wear and tear, as when the tenancy commenced. According to § 76-1424, the tenant shall occupy his dwelling unit only as a dwelling unit. Regarding a tenant's remedies for unlawful ouster by the landlord and return of a security deposit, § 76-1430 states: If the landlord unlawfully excludes or removes the tenant from the premises... the tenant may recover possession or terminate the rental agreement and, in either case, recover an amount equal to three months' periodic rent as liquidated damages, and a reasonable attorney's fee. If the rental agreement is terminated the landlord shall return all prepaid rent and security recoverable under section 76-1416. A landlord's remedy for a tenant's nonpayment of rent is found in § 76-1431(2): If rent is unpaid when due and the tenant fails to pay rent within three days after written notice by the landlord of nonpayment and his intention to terminate the rental agreement if the rent is not paid within that period of time, the landlord may terminate the rental agreement. A tenant's abandonment of leased premises is mentioned in § 76-1432(3), which provides: If the tenant abandons the dwelling unit, the landlord shall take immediate possession and shall make reasonable efforts to rent it at a fair rental. If the landlord rents the dwelling unit for a term beginning prior to the expiration of the rental agreement, it is deemed to be terminated as of the date the new tenancy begins. Total absence from the premises without notice to landlord for one full rental period or thirty days, whichever is less, shall constitute abandonment. (Emphasis supplied.) The last sentence of § 76-1432(3) is not part of the uniform act drafted at the national level, but was added, and is apparently uniquely indigenous, to the Nebraska act. Quite obviously, § 76-1432(3) does not specify the form or content of a tenant's notice to the landlord in reference to the statutory abandonment by absence from the premises. Section 76-1434 abolishes [d]istraint for rent, that is, the extrajudicial remedy of a landlord's seizure and detention of a tenant's personal property until delinquent rent is paid, and provides that a landlord's lien or security interest in a tenant's household goods is not enforceable. Section 76-1436 limits the landlord's rights to recover possession of rented premises: A landlord may not recover or take possession of the dwelling unit by action or otherwise ... except in case of abandonment, surrender, or as permitted in [URLTA].