Edwards v. Habib

Edwards v. Habib, 397 F.2d 687 (1968), was a case decided by the D.C. Circuit that includes the first recognition of retaliatory eviction as a defense to eviction in landlord-tenant law.

Factual background

Plaintiff Edwards rented property from defendant Habib on a month-to-month basis. Habib failed to address sanitary code violations brought up by Edwards, so Edwards reported Habib to the Department of Licenses and the Inspection Department. An inspection revealed 40 sanitary code violations, and Habib was ordered to rectify the violations. After the inspection, Habib obtained a default judgment against Edwards in a statutory eviction action.

Holding

The court held that a tenant cannot be evicted for reporting sanitary code violations, and this became known as the defense of retaliatory eviction.^[1]

References