Skip to main content
DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Cruz Management Co. v. Thomas, 417 Mass. 782 (1994)

Citation
Cruz Management Co. v. Thomas, 417 Mass. 782 (1994) 3.
Parent Document
Cruz Management Co. v. Thomas, 417 Mass. 782 (1994)
Jurisdiction
Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date
1994-05-12

Full Text

1,038 chars
3. Damages for breach of the implied warranty of habitability. As was noted previously, a part of Thomas’s rent was paid with rent subsidy funds, provided by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, under a program of aid for the rehabilitation of existing housing. See 42 U.S.C. § 1437f. The judge calculated damages for breach of the implied warranty of habitability based on the portion of the rent paid personally by Thomas. In all relevant respects, the facts of this case match those in Cruz Management Co. v. Wideman. Thomas was entitled to damages calculated on the basis of value of the premises as warranted. *788Wideman, supra at 775-777.5 As the parties have not argued otherwise, we assume that the contract rent, which by Federal law must approximate the fair market value of the leased premises, see 24 C.F.R. §§ 881.203 and 881.204 (1993), is equal to the value of the premises as warranted. On remand, therefore, the contract rent should be used as the basis for calculating a new award of damages.6