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[rushford79]

If you are renting out a house in VA, and something happens such as the power goes out due to a problem with a breaker box, or wiring, or hot water goes out, or something other major like that. Then while waiting to have it repaired the tenant decides to rent a hotel room, is the landlord responsible for paying for the hotel?

I'm not talking about if you put off repairs for a month, but if you have it repaired within 2 days?

Does anyone have any law codes to cite to back this up either way? Thanks.

[regenweald]

My first thought is that the landlord would pick where you stayed. People pick on landlords but tenants do crazy things and I would hate to get a bill from the Hyatt Regency. I would think that a landlord would offer but if you had a place you could crash, that would be nice of you. There are laws about what is inhabitable and what isn't but I'm not sure exactly what that says and then each state is different.
By the way...if you're not working with your landlord, be prepared to move when your lease is up.

[delrico]

If the repairs are such that the place is uninhabitable, and the tenant stays in a hotel, the landlord is generally required to prorate the rent for the days the unit could not be lived in. So you would take the monthly rent, divide by 30 (the law generally assumes 30 days per month), and multiply that number by the number of days they couldn't live there. That may or may not cover the cost of the hotel, depending on how expensive rent is and how cheap the hotel is.

[salvadore94]

If the repairs are such that the place is uninhabitable, and the tenant stays in a hotel, the landlord is generally required to prorate the rent for the days the unit could not be lived in. So you would take the monthly rent, divide by 30 (the law generally assumes 30 days per month), and multiply that number by the number of days they couldn't live there. That may or may not cover the cost of the hotel, depending on how expensive rent is and how cheap the hotel is.

No a landlord is not responsible for paying for a tenant's hotel room. If you are renting a house in VA, and something happens such as the power going out or hot water going out, you can make arrangements to stay with friends or family or you can pay for your own hotel room. The landlord is in no way responsible for paying for a tenant's hotel room. People all across the country lose power on any given day. Most people deal with it without renting a hotel room.

[said99]

READ the lease
Could have right to break lease depending on how long the place is uninhabitable
Have a right to abatement of rent while place is uninhabitable
LL may or may not have any obligation to pay
Lack of hot water for a single day does NOT make it uninhabitable, although no heat may
LL has a reasonable time to make repairs, but there is an urgency with health and safety hazards

[shadrach]

No. If the home is rendered uninhabitable, you do not have to pay rent for the days that the electric is out. The landlord does not have to pay for a hotel room. That is what renter's insurance is for.

[varik]

as far as I know, there is no such requirement on the landlord.