Mary Cocchiarella v. Donald Driggs, 884 N.W.2d 621 (2016)

Citation: Mary Cocchiarella v. Donald Driggs, 884 N.W.2d 621 (2016)
Parent Document: Mary Cocchiarella v. Donald Driggs, 884 N.W.2d 621 (2016)
Jurisdiction: Minnesota (state)
Effective Date: 2016-08-31
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4252990/mary-cocchiarella-v-donald-driggs/ ↗

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' Further, the court’s hypothetical about severe violations of housing regulations before the move-in date, see Minn.Stat. § 504B.395, subd. 1(1) (2014), is misplaced. First, as I discuss above, a prospective tenant’s “move-in” date, as specified in the lease agreement, must arrive before even “legal possession” exists. A “legal right” to occupy a dwelling cannot exist before the move-in date arrives. Thus, even under the court’s present-legal-possession ' approach, a prospective tenant must wait until the move-in date to have standing as a “residential tenant” to allege a housing-code violation. Second; under my actual-possession approach, when the move-in date arrives and a housing-code violation still exists, the tenant need not remain continuously present in the dwelling with such a severe violation. Rather, as explained above, to have standing as a “residential tenant,” physically “occupying” the dwelling, the tenant need' merely have physical access or control, which exists, for example, as soon as the prospective tenant accepts keys from the landlord to access the dwelling.

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