LEASE IS ILLEGAL, TENANT'S LAWSUIT ALLEGES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 7, 1993                   TAG: 9301070043
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
LEASE IS ILLEGAL, TENANT'S LAWSUIT ALLEGES
The house had been falling apart for months, but the worst part was when a chunk of the bedroom ceiling fell on Penny Layne's 2-year-old son.
In a lawsuit filed this week in Roanoke Circuit Court, Layne accused her landlord of renting a substandard home under a lease that broke the law with almost every paragraph.
Layne has moved out of the house at 1311 Tazewell Ave. S.E., and now she wants L.H. Moore & Co. to pay back her rent plus $15,000 in damages.
She blames the realty company, along with property owners William Emory and Jack Richards, with showing a "malicious and reckless disregard" of her rights as a tenant.
The lawsuit claims that Layne complained three times to Moore & Co., which managed the property, about the home's poor condition, including the ceiling in her son's bedroom. No repairs were made.
Two weeks after her last complaint, part of the plaster ceiling fell on the 2-year-old, causing a head injury that sent him to the hospital, the lawsuit alleges.
City officials have since found that loose and falling plaster in the ceiling violated the Roanoke building code.
The lawsuit claims that a form lease, reportedly used by Moore & Co. for dozens of low-income tenants, violates the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.
Layne's attorney, Henry Woodward of the Roanoke Valley Legal Aid Society, said the case could have implications for others.
"It does afford the opportunity to test a lease that is in widespread use by this particular management company for poor people," Woodward said.
Telephone calls to Larry Moore, president of Moore & Co., were not returned Wednesday.
The lawsuit alleges that 17 provisions in the lease are illegal, in effect giving the landlord sweeping powers while limiting those of the tenant.
Among the allegations are that the lease "broadly imposes repair and maintenance duties on the tenant," gives the landlord power to take furniture and other property if the rent is late, exempts the landlord from liability for heating and utilities, and includes language that "exculpates the landlord from his own negligence."
Layne could not be reached for comment Wednesday; Woodward said he has advised her not to talk about the lawsuit.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB