미국법상 임대차주택의 주거적합성에 관한 연구

All the people need housing to survive. Some people own it, some people come to use it through renting. People usually think that the highs and lows of the rent represent the quality of the rental house. Thus many civil codes or case laws around the world had not touched the quality issue of rental houses. It had been that way, even if the quality of the house was not habitable. Then, in the late 19th century, people gradually came to know that controlling habitability is needed for the wellbeing of the society. And the concepts of habitability and the minimum standard of habitability were coded on the New York Tenement House Act of 1901. The New York State Congress made the historic act of 1901, because the U.S. courts had refused to solve the problem of the habitability of rental houses by reason of freedom of contract. Nontheless it was as late as in the 1970s, the U.S. courts have finally changed their stance and acknowledged the concept of habitability under the common law by accepting the intent of the act. Due to the act, nowadays in the U.S all the landlords are responsible for the implied warranty of habitability to the tenants. Meanwhile in Korea, the perception on the habitability of rental houses has started to expand around 2000. But it is still low-toned in the area of civil law. Now it is necessary for the Korean Civil Courts to develop arguments and theories in favor of the habitability of rental houses.