The traditional law of leases imposed no duty on landlords to mitigate damages in the event of tenant breach, whereas the modern law of leases does. An economic model of leases, in which absentee tenants may or may not intend to breach, shows that the traditional rule promotes tenant investment in the property by discouraging landlord entry. In contrast, the modern rule prevents the property from being left idle by encouraging landlords to enter and re-let abandoned property. The model reflects the historic use of the traditional rule for agricultural leases, where absentee use was valuable, and the emergence of the modern rule for residential leases, where the primary use entails continuous occupation.
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Paper provided by University of Connecticut, Department of Economics in its series Working papers with number
2009-07.
Length: Date of creation: Jan 2009 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:uct:uconnp:2009-07
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Find related papers by JEL classification: K11 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Property Law K12 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Contract Law O18 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Regional, Urban, and Rural Analyses R11 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Analysis of Growth, Development, and Changes
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