Legal Definitions - H

A to Z Blogging Challenge.  My topic is LEGAL DEFINITIONS EXPLAINED IN PLAIN [AND HOPEFULLY HUMOROUS] ENGLISH.

  

Habitable – the residential property is in a clean and livable condition, including hot/cold running water, electricity, non-leaking roof, toilets flush, no cockroaches or bedbugs. This rule generally does not apply to commercial properties.  Approximately one-hundred percent of tenant Answers in a residential eviction case state the property is not habitable. Some of those Answers are not false.  Approximately fifty percent of post-foreclosure Answers state the property is not habitable. All of those Answers don't matter.  Most post-foreclosure Defendants are the prior owners. Precisely whose fault is it that the property is not habitable???

Harmless error – An error made by a judge which does not affect the outcome of the case. If you won the case, approximately one-hundred percent of the errors were harmless. If you lost the case, approximately zero percent of the errors were harmless.

Hearsay – an out-of-court statement offered for its truth. So if a witness testifies “I went to the office and Bob told me the rent was paid” and Defendant is offering it for the truth that the rent was paid, then it's hearsay because Bob said it outside of court. If I'm offering it to show that the witness is lying because Bob was in Arizona on the day in question [yes, this happened to me], then it's NOT hearsay because I'm not offering the statement for its truth.

Holdover tenancy – a tenant who remains in possession of the property after his lease expires. In California, it becomes a month-to-month tenancy when the tenant pays another month rent and the landlord accepts the rent. If the tenant remains in possession and does not pay another month's rent, the tenant becomes a deadbeat and a squatter.