Abrams v. Sherwin
Abrams v. Sherwin
Opinion of the Court
On this appeal from the discharge of plaintiff’s rule for judgment, the material averments in the statement of claim and affidavit of defense may be briefly stated. The defendant was plaintiff’s tenant under a written .lease. Before its expiration he was notified by the landlord, several times in writing and twice orally, that the lease would not be renewed at the same rental, but at a
Assuming the averments in the affidavit of defense to be true, as we must, the most the law would imply would be that, in holding over after the expiration of his lease, the defendant must be understood as consenting to pay what would be a reasonable and compensatory rent, and ' for that he is liable. The plaintiff’s demand is for rental which he again and again demanded as a condition of his giving a new lease, and which the defendant says he just as frequently and positively declined to pay. When the defendant held over the law gave a choice of remedies to the landlord. He might have looked upon the tenant as a trespasser and summarily ejected him, or he might have treated him in holding over as a tenant by sufferance, or he might have regarded the holding over as a continuance under the terms of the lease. The law will not, by implication, infer an acceptance by the defendant of the terms which he had so persistently re
The affidavit of defense being sufficient to prevent the entry of the judgment claimed by the plaintiff, this appeal is dismissed.
Appeal dismissed at appellant’s costs.
Reference
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
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- Syllabus
- Landlord and tenant — Demand for increased rent and refusal— Holding over — Tenant by suffrance. 1. Where a landlord repeatedly demands a stated increased rental as a condition of a new lease, and the tenant repeatedly refuses this demand, and the tenant holds over, the most the tenant will he assumed to have consented to pay, is a reasonable and compensatory rent. The landlord cannot recover the stated increase of rental which he had demanded, unless it is a reasonable and compensatory rent. 2. In such case the landlord may look upon the tenant as a trespasser and summarily eject him; or he may treat him as holding over as a tenant by sufferance; or he may regard the holding over as a continuance under the terms of the lease; but the law will not infer an acceptance hy the tenant of the terms which the landlord had demanded as a condition.