Q1 - Extract from lease: The tenant

[wj097]

Hi there,

While working through the answer choices, I am confronted with a situation where the question asks us to identify situation where it is NOT REQUIRED TO PAY, and while 3 of the answer choices confirm that it is REQUIRED TO PAY, 2 other choices merely satisfy the necessary condition of REQUIRED TO PAY and NOT REQUIRED TO PAY, but don't trigger the sufficient condition to properly conclude that it is either REQUIRED TO PAY or NOT REQUIRED TO PAY....

Stimulus
in list --> NOT required to pay
NOT beyond control --> required to pay

(a) NOT in list & NOT beyond control --> required to pay
(b) beyond control & NOT in list...dont know (satisfies the necessary condition for NOT required to pay)
(c) NOT in list & NOT beyond control --> required to pay
(d) NOT in list & NOT beyond control --> required to pay
(e) NOT in list...dont know (satisfies the necessary condition for required to pay)

I chose (b), but more b/c of probability (satisfying a necessary condition is more likely to satisfy the sufficient condition) than certainty....

Thx

Thx in advance

[tommywallach]

Hey WJ,

Good question here. This is a very odd question, and the key is to keep good track of the details. In this case, the tenant doesn't have to be pay in two situations:

1) Preexisting damage that WAS marked down on the list
2) Damage caused by a circumstance beyond the tenant's control

Now, it's worth thinking about this for a second. Isn't ANY damage done before the tenant got there beyond the tenant's control? Of course it is. But if that were the case, then there would be no need to for the preexisting damage list at all, because the tenant could simply say "Oh, I forgot to mark that down, but it happened before I got here, and thus was beyond my control."

In other words, preexisting damage that the tenant FORGOT to mark down DOES have to be paid for.

(A) Within control, so must pay.
(B) Beyond control, so doesn't have to pay.
(C) Caused by children, so not beyond control. Must pay.
(D) Removed by tenant, so not beyond control. Must pay.
(E) Preexisting but forgot to record. Must pay.

So if your case for (E) is that the paint splatters were pre-existing, that does not qualify them for "beyond control." That only applies to damage done AFTER the tenant moves in. For all damage done BEFORE the tenant moves in, they have to mark it down on the form, or else they pay for it as if they'd done it themselves (otherwise, as I stated above, the form wouldn't have any utility at all!).

Hope that makes sense!

-t