IS THE LANDLORD REALLY A LORD?

Will attempt to answer this question very quickly and then go ahead to address the following other questions which are related:

• What are the obligations of the landlord and the tenant?
• What are the rights or a tenant?
• What are the rights of a tenant where he makes some improvements on the house?
• What is the specific length of quit notice required?
• What are the grounds for evicting tenants?

So, back to that question, IS THE LANDLORD REALLY A LORD?   You know who or what a Lord is. You worship Him. He is almighty. What you may then ask is, why is the owner of a house called the land lord of that house? I can explain it. In the feudal system, a lord, so called, would own a land and his tenants became his vassals. The feudal lord had dominion over the land and the produce, together with the vassals living on that land.

The vassals were then required to swear to an oath of allegiance to the lord, as if a monarch. As a land “lord”, the landlord could eject his tenant as and whenever he wished; he could charge and alter the rent at will; and could impose any terms on the tenant. The law has been slow to give up many of the archaic terms and principles associated with the feudal social system. Otherwise, really, the “landlord” is not a “lord”. He does not have general authority or lordship over his tenants.