Missouri recognizes an implied warranty of habitability through case law (Detling v. Edelbrock, 1984), requiring residential premises to be fit and safe to live in. RSMo 441.234 separately lets qualifying tenants repair code-violating defects and deduct the cost, capped at the greater of $300 or one-half the periodic rent.
Missouri's implied warranty of habitability comes from case law, not statute. In Detling v. Edelbrock, 671 S.W.2d 265 (Mo. banc 1984), the Missouri Supreme Court held a landlord impliedly warrants residential premises are habitable at lease inception and remain so during the term. The statutory repair-and-deduct remedy is RSMo 441.234: a tenant who has lawfully occupied the unit for six consecutive months, is current on rent, and has no uncured violations may, after written notice and a 14-day cure period, fix a defect that violates a local housing or building code and "detrimentally affects habitability, sanitation or security." The deductible cost is "less than three hundred dollars, or one-half of the periodic rent, whichever is greater," never exceeding one month's rent, with a one-month-rent aggregate cap per twelve months.
No fixed statutory fine. A landlord who breaches the warranty of habitability may face damages, rent abatement, or a constructive-eviction defense; the repair-and-deduct statute lets the tenant offset qualifying repair costs against rent within the dollar caps.
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Kirkwood, MO
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