Evaston v. Myers

12 Pa. D. & C. 172, 1928 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 255
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County
DecidedSeptember 29, 1928
DocketNo. 31
StatusPublished

This text of 12 Pa. D. & C. 172 (Evaston v. Myers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lancaster County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evaston v. Myers, 12 Pa. D. & C. 172, 1928 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 255 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1928).

Opinion

Groff, J.,

The facts of this case are as follows: Sometime during the month of May, 1926, Andrew F. Evasion rented from D. M. Myers, by a written lease bearing date May 1, 1926, all that certain two and one-half story brick dwelling-house, known as No. 301 West Lemon Street, in the City of Lancaster, to hold the premises from May 1, 1926, for the term of eleven months for the rent or sum of $495, to be paid in monthly portions of $45 each, in advance.

Paragraph 5 of said lease is as follows:

“That the Lessee hereby waives and dispenses in favor of the Lessor all laws which now or which hereafter shall exempt any property upon the demised premises, or any property elsewhere belonging to the Lessee from levy and sale upon distress for the rents hereby reserved, or upon execution on any judgment obtained in action brought for breach of any of the cove[173]*173nants herein contained; and all property, goods or chattels of Lessee shall be liable for distress for rent in arrears and unpaid, and shall continue liable to be distrained upon for the space of thirty days after Lessee shall have removed from said premises, leaving any rent reserved by this Lease in arrears and unpaid, whether such property, goods or chattels shall have or have not ever been upon said demised premises.”

Paragraph 7 of said lease is as follows:

“VII. If the Lessee shall hold over after the expiration of the term hereby created, with the consent of the Lessor, it shall be deemed and taken to be a renewal of this Lease and of all the terms, conditions, covenants and provisos therein contained, for another term, and so on from term to term, at the option of said Lessor until said Lessee shall give three months’ previous notice to said Lessor of an intention to determine the tenancy at the end of any term.”

Paragraph 9 of said lease is as follows:

“IX. And the said Lessee further covenants and agrees that if he shall at any time during the continuance of this Lease, remove, attempt to remove or manifest an intention to remove his goods and effects out of or off from said premises, or if he shall make an assignment for the benefit of creditors, or if execution shall be issued or other legal proceedings had while any portion of the rent for the full term shall be unpaid, then the whole rent for the whole term of this Lease shall be taken to be due and payable forthwith; and the said party of the first part may proceed by landlord’s warrant to distrain and collect the whole sum, or any Attorney of any Court of Record may enter judgment for the whole amount unpaid with 10 per cent, collection fee, and collect the same by execution, or the same shall be first paid out of the proceeds of such assignment or sale.”

It is admitted that Andrew F. Evasion entered upon the said premises pursuant to the said lease in the month of May, 1926; that at the expiration of the said lease on April 1, 1927, the said lessee continued in the possession of the said premises under the terms of his lease for another term of eleven months, which ended on March 1, 1928; that at that time the said lessee, under the terms of his lease and with the consent of the lessor, continued to occupy the said premises until May 5, 1928, when he removed therefrom to other premises in the City of Lancaster, known as No. 418 North Mulberry Street, the property of Isaac Golden.

The landlord, D. M. Myers, one of the defendants in the said suit, issued a landlord’s warrant and placed it in the hands of W. G. Sweigart, constable, the other defendant in the suit, who distrained lessee’s goods and advertised them for sale on May 28, 1928, at 10 o’clock, but, before the said goods were sold, plaintiff filed his bond and issued his writ of replevin, which writ was served by the sheriff, and, according to his return appearing on the back of the writ, the goods were delivered to the plaintiff on May 28, 1928.

The plaintiff in this action files his statement of claim, by which he seeks to recover the sum of $145, injuries or damages sustained by him through what he alleges was a wrongful distraint of his goods. In reply to this statement, the defendants within the statutory time filed their affidavit of defense. The plaintiff now moves for judgment for want of a sufficient affidavit of defense, and as his reasons avers that the defendants failed to show:

1. That any rent was due, unpaid or in arrears at the time of levy.

2. A fraudulent or clandestine removal of the plaintiff’s goods by the plaintiff from the demised premises.

3. Any justification for the seizure of plaintiff’s goods on other than the demised premises.

[174]*174As to the first averment, let us examine the lease, and we find that it was for the term of eleven months from May 1, 1926, that it contained in the 7th paragraph of the conditions of the lease the following: “If the lessee shall hold over after the expiration of the term hereby created, with the consent of the lessor, it shall be deemed and taken to be a renewal of this lease and of all the terms, conditions, covenants and provisos therein contained, for another term, and so on from term to term, at the option of said Lessor until said lessee shall give three months’ previous notice to said lessor of an intention to determine the tenancy at the end of any term.”

The plaintiff, therefore, plainly covenanted that if he should hold over the lease would be renewed for a period of eleven months, and that if he should hold over at the end of that period, it should be renewed for another period of eleven months, and so on from term to term, at the option of the said lessor, until the said lessee shall give three months’ previous notice to said lessor of an intention to determine the tenancy at the end of any term.

Prom the pleading, it appears that the first renewal term ended March 1, 1928, and plaintiff remained on the premises with the consent of the lessor, one of the defendants, until May 5, 1928, when he removed without the consent or permission of the landlord.

Admittedly, the three months’ notice of the determination of the lease was not given.

“It matters not in what language a covenant to renew a lease is couched, so that the intention is reasonably apparent and the length of the new term is specified.

“Holding over by a tenant who has an option for an additional term is notice to his landlord of his election to exercise his privilege. That actions speak louder than words is sound law, as well as proverbial wisdom:” Cairns et al. v. Llewellyn et al., 2 Pa. Superior Ct. 599; McDonald v. Karpeles, 61 Pa. Superior Ct. 496.

And we find this same principle enunciated in White et al. v. Long et al., 289 Pa. 525.

We also find that “Where a lease contains a covenant or option to renew, any holding over, even for a short time, would give the landlord the right to elect to hold the tenant liable as a tenant for the specified term of renewal, regardless of the intention of the lessees:” Cairns et al. v. Llewellyn et al., 2 Pa. Superior Ct. 599.

In McBrier v. Marshall, 126 Pa. 390; Harvey v. Gunzberg, 148 Pa. 294; Patterson v. Park, 166 Pa. 25; Bakewell v. Turner, 36 Pa. Superior Ct. 283, as well as in Cairns v.

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Related

White v. Long
137 A. 673 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1927)
Owens v. Shovlin
9 A. 484 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1887)
McBrier v. Marshall
17 A. 647 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1889)
Harvey v. Gunzberg
23 A. 1005 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1892)
Patterson v. Park
30 A. 1041 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1895)
Cairns v. Llewellyn
2 Pa. Super. 599 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1896)
Mcanniny v. Miller
19 Pa. Super. 406 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1902)
Bakewell v. Turner
36 Pa. Super. 283 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1908)
Fidelity Trust Co. v. Lee
38 Pa. Super. 330 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1909)
Harrop v. Lutz
53 Pa. Super. 195 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1913)
McDonald v. Karpeles
61 Pa. Super. 496 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1915)
Weiss v. Levey
69 Pa. Super. 359 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1918)

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Bluebook (online)
12 Pa. D. & C. 172, 1928 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 255, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evaston-v-myers-pactcompllancas-1928.