Commonwealth Property Management, Inc. v. Hanson

764 P.2d 950, 94 Or. App. 136
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedNovember 23, 1988
Docket87F 635732; CA A45017
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 764 P.2d 950 (Commonwealth Property Management, Inc. v. Hanson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth Property Management, Inc. v. Hanson, 764 P.2d 950, 94 Or. App. 136 (Or. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

NEWMAN, J.

Defendants, tenants of a space in a mobile home park, appeal a judgment in plaintiff’s forcible entry and detainer action to recover possession of the premises for failure to pay rent. ORS 91.810(1); ORS 91.820(2); ORS 105.120(2). The judgment gave restitution of the premises to plaintiff, the landlord, and ordered that it receive back rent which defendants had tendered into court. ORS 91.810(1). We affirm.

Defendants occupied the space under a rental agreement which they had executed in 1977. The agreement provided for a “base rent,” which the landlord had increased from time to time; in 1986 it was $160 per month. The agreement also provided for a $3 monthly charge for each additional occupant and a monthly late charge. On September 29, 1986, plaintiff gave a written notice to defendants which stated, in part:

“Effective January 1, 1987, your space rent will increase $10 to $170 per month.”

Defendants tendered only $163 as rent for January, 1987. Plaintiff rejected it. On January 8,1987, plaintiff served a “72-hour notice” on defendants.1 It demanded that defendants pay $170, plus $3 for “extra person” and a $5 “late fee” or the lease “will be terminated.” Defendants refused to pay and plaintiff filed the action. After trial, but before judgment, defendants tendered into court a sum sufficient to cover the amounts that plaintiff claimed for January, 1987, and subsequent months.

Defendants pleaded four affirmative defenses and four counterclaims. The court granted plaintiffs motion to strike defendants’ first affirmative defense for failure to state a defense. ORCP 21. It granted plaintiffs motion for a directed verdict, ORCP 60, on defendants’ second, third and fourth affirmative defenses and on defendants’ first and [139]*139fourth counterclaims.2 The court submitted defendants’ second and third counterclaims to the jury, which returned a verdict for plaintiff on each claim.3 Thereafter the court found:

“All of defendants’ counterclaims have been filed in bad faith for the reason that they were not material violations of ORS 91.800 or 91.805, nor of the 1977 rental agreement, and that they were pretextual in nature and raised as part of a rent strike in objection to plaintiffs notice of rental increase.”

It awarded possession and also the tendered sum of $712, representing back rent that defendant owed, to plaintiff.

Defendants assign as error that the court struck their first affirmative defense that plaintiff had no power to raise the rent because the rental agreement contained no provision that authorized or allowed it. The statutes, ORS 91.700 et seq, and the rental agreement do not state that the landlord may not raise the rent. See also ORS 91.225. ORS 91.869 specifies the procedures pursuant to which a landlord may raise rents in a mobile home park. The court did not err when it struck defendants’ first affirmative defense.

Defendants also assign as error that the court directed a verdict against their first counterclaim,4 which alleged that plaintiffs predecessor had raised the rent illegally and asked for damages of $260. Defendants rely on the same [140]*140legal argument, which we found to be insufficient, that they urged to support their first affirmative defense.

Defendants assign as error that the court directed a verdict for plaintiff on the fourth affirmative defense. They alleged that the 90-day notice of rent increase (the September 29,1986, notice) did not comply with ORS 91.869(1), because it set forth only the “base rent,” and not the total monthly rent. The notice of rent increase, however, complied with ORS 91.869(1)(a), which provides that the landlord may not increase the rent unless he

“gives notice in writing to each affected tenant at least 90 days prior to the effective date of the rent increase specifying the amount of the increase, the amount of the new rent and the date on which the increase becomes effective.”

The notice was timely and stated the amount of the increase ($10), the effective date (January 1, 1987) and the amount of the new rent ($170).5

Defendants assign as error that the court directed a verdict against their third affirmative defense,6 which alleged that plaintiffs 72-hour demand of January 8,1987, was inconsistent with the earlier 90-day notice. It was not.

Defendants assign as error that the court, rather than the jury, found that their counterclaims were asserted in bad faith. They argue that the determination of bad faith is a jury question. Assuming, without deciding, that it is a jury question, defendants failed to raise the issue timely. They did not ask the court to submit the issue of bad faith to the jury when the court submitted the second and third counterclaims or at any other time before the court had dismissed the jury.

Defendants also argue that there is not substantial evidence to support the court’s finding that defendants asserted each of their counterclaims in bad faith. Regardless [141]*141of the court’s explanation of the reasons for its ruling7 and assuming that substantial evidence must support it, there was substantial evidence from which the court could have found that each of defendants’ counterclaims was frivolous and, therefore, asserted in bad faith. See Napolski v. Champney, 295 Or 408, 419, 667 P2d 1013 (1983).

Defendants also assign as error that the court not only restored the premises to plaintiff but awarded it the rent that defendants had tendered into court. They argue that when plaintiff accepted that rent it reinstated the tenancy. Accordingly, they assert that they were entitled to retain the premises under ORS 91.810(1).8 The court, however, did not err. Although Reeves v. Baker, 270 Or 837, 840, 530 P2d 30 (1974), states that if the landlord sues for possession based on non-payment of rent, his acceptance of the rent will reinstate the tenancy, that case interpreted ORS 91.090, which does not apply here. See

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
764 P.2d 950, 94 Or. App. 136, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-property-management-inc-v-hanson-orctapp-1988.