An eviction action is a summary proceeding to determine the present possessory rights to property. See Amresco Residential Mortg. Corp. v. Stange , 631 N.W.2d 444, 445-46 (Minn. App. 2001). A landlord may bring an eviction action against a tenant for nonpayment of rent. Minn. Stat. § 504B.291 (2016). Minnesota caselaw and statutes have recognized a limited number of defenses to an eviction action that a tenant may assert, one of which is breach of the statutory covenants of habitability that the supreme court first recognized in Fritz v. Warthen , 298 Minn. 54, 213 N.W.2d 339 (1973). Fritz held that a covenant in a lease for payment of rent and the statutory covenants of habitability are mutually dependent, and a breach of the statutory covenants may be asserted as a defense in an eviction action for nonpayment of rent. 298 Minn. at 58-59, 213 N.W.2d at 341-42. "Because the statutory covenants of habitability are made a part of every residential lease and are mutual with the covenant to pay rent, the rent, or at least part of it, is not due under the terms of the lease when the landlord has breached the statutory covenants." Id. at 59, 213 N.W.2d at 342. Here, although the housing-court referee and district court used language not employed in Fritz , in effect they concluded that "the rent, or at least part of it, is not due under the terms of the lease" because landlord breached the covenants of habitability.