Knight v. Hallsthammar
Supreme Court of California
623 P.2d 268 (1981)
After Knight (plaintiff) bought an apartment building where Hallsthammar and other tenants (defendants) lived, he raised their rent substantially. The tenants, who had long complained of cracked walls, peeling paint, leaks, broken utilities, and pests, responded that they would withhold rent because of the building's poor condition and the increase. Knight filed an unlawful detainer action against the tenants, who raised breach of the implied warranty of habitability as a defense. The jury ruled against four tenants after the trial court instructed that the warranty defense applied only if the tenant didn't know of the defects at move-in and had given the landlord a reasonable time to fix them while still living there. The tenants appealed those instructions.
Whether a tenant waives the implied warranty of habitability by knowingly leasing a defective unit and paying rent, and whether a tenant must give the landlord a reasonable opportunity to cure defects before raising a breach of that warranty as a defense.