Mercer County Agriculture Society v. Barnhardt

459 A.2d 811, 313 Pa. Super. 206, 1983 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2919
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 22, 1983
Docket850
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 459 A.2d 811 (Mercer County Agriculture Society v. Barnhardt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mercer County Agriculture Society v. Barnhardt, 459 A.2d 811, 313 Pa. Super. 206, 1983 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2919 (Pa. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

*208 CERCONE, President Judge:

In this landlord/tenant dispute, appellant, Wilbert Barnhardt, appeals from the decision of the court below granting appellee, Mercer County Agriculture Society [hereinafter referred to as the Agriculture Society, or the landlord], a writ of possession and monetary damages for rent accrued and paid by appellant to the prothonotary during the pend-ency of this action. Appellant’s argument on appeal is that his lease was not properly terminated by appellee. We find appellant’s argument to have no merit and we affirm.

The facts as found by the trial court are these. In 1978, the parties entered into an oral, month-to-month lease for the rental of four horse stalls at $15.00 per month. The term of the lease was to run from the first day of the month to the last. Additionally, the lease entitled Barnhardt to draw water for his horses and to use the racetrack for training and conditioning the animals.

Then, on November 8, 1978, the landlord’s stall superintendent personally served Barnhardt with a written notice to quit the premises. This notice said:

It has been decided by the Board of Directors of the Stoneboro Fair Association, at their meeting on November 6, 1978, that we do not wish to renew your month to month lease for horse and tack stalls at the Stoneboro fairgrounds.
Be advised that this is your official notification to remove horses, either owned or trained by you, along with your personal property, from the Stoneboro Fair property by December 10, 1978.

When Barnhardt refused to vacate, the Agriculture Society filed an action in ejectment in district court. Barnhardt counter claimed for damages done to feed and other materials kept at the stables, allegedly occurring because of a leaking roof. The court ruled in favor of the Agriculture Society on all claims and Barnhardt appealed to the common pleas court. Following a hearing, the court of common pleas granted the Agriculture Society a writ of possession *209 and a verdict for rental due. The court also ruled against Barnhardt on his counterclaim. Barnhardt now appeals.

Appellant Barnhardt argues that his lease was not properly terminated by the landlord because the termination date as set forth in the notice to quit, did not coincide with the end of the monthly term. For this reason, appellant contends that the common law rule, which held that a notice to quit must coincide with the end of the term else the notice is completely null and void, should be held to govern appellant’s case.

In relevant part, the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 provides:

A landlord desirous of repossessing real property from a tenant may notify, in writing, the tenant to remove from the same at the expiration of the time specified in the notice under the following circumstances, namely, (1) Upon the termination of a term of the tenant....
In case of the expiration of a term or of a forfeiture for breach of the conditions of the lease where the lease is for any term of less than one year or for an undeterminate time, the notice shall specify that the tenant shall remove within thirty days from the date of service thereof, and when the lease is for one year or more, then within three months from the date of service thereof.

The notice provided for in this section may be served personally on the tenant... , 1

There are no appellate court decisions construing this portion of the Act, and the trial court decisions which have been reported are in conflict. It is therefore necessary to begin our analysis with appellate cases decided under the law which preceded the Act of 1951.

In Hollis v. Burns, 100 Pa. 206, 45 Am.Rep. 379, 13 W.N.C. 241 (1882), the tenant leased a house under an oral, *210 month-to-month lease which commenced on the sixth of each month. After occupying the premises for twenty months, the tenant vacated the premises on the fifth of the month. The landlord sued for rental money, arguing that the monthly tenancy had become a yearly tenancy when the tenant stayed beyond one year.. Based on the common law, the Court rejected the landlord’s argument and ruled the tenancy to be a monthly one. In dictum the Court noted that where the tenancy is monthly, “a month’s notice to quit [from the landlord] is sufficient.” 100 Pa. at 209.

The Hollis case was subsequently cited as authority by our Court in Hood v. Drysdale, 27 Pa. Superior Ct. 540, 543 (1905) for the proposition that a. monthly tenancy “could be terminated [by the tenant] at the end of any month by removing from the premises, and by the landlord by giving one month’s previous notice to quit.” As in Hollis, the tenancy in Hood was based on an oral lease; the term of the lease commenced on the twenty-seventh of each month. On June 9, 1904, the landlord gave the tenant notice to quit on July 27, 1904. The Court ruled that the notice was effective even though it allowed for more than one month’s notice to the tenant.

The case of Robinson v. Kuhen, 83 Pa.Superior Ct. 338 (1924) is also instructive. In Robinson, the tenant held over for several years following the expiration of his written lease. Then, on August 15, 1922, the landlord served the tenant with notice to quit and demanded removal by September 15, 1922. On appeal, the tenant argued that he was a monthly, or periodic tenant, and that as such he was entitled to thirty days’ notice prior to the expiration of the term. However, this Court rejected the claim that this was a monthly tenancy and ruled that it was only a tenancy at will. At the time, the relevant statutory provision provided:

In all cases where a tenant shall hold possession of real estate within this Commonwealth, either by license or lease, whether oral or written, for any time less than one year, or by the month, or for an undeterminate time; and the immediate landlord or owner of such real estate shall *211 desire to regain possession thereof from such tenant or occupant, he shall serve upon the tenant or an adult member of his family a notice, in writing, — therein that he requires such tenant or occupant to deliver to him the possession of the premises, so held, wiithin thirty days from the date of the service thereof; Provided, that this act shall not be construed as authorizing the dispossession of a tenant before the expiration of his or her license or lease.

The Act of March 31, 1905, P.L. 87, Sec. 1, 68 P.S. § 366. Thus, the Court held that “the tenancy [at will] could be terminated at any time, provided notice be given thirty days before bringing the action.” Id., 83 Pa.Superior at 339. In a concurring opinion, Judge Keller, joined by Judge Gawthop, disagreed with the court’s conclusion that this was a tenancy at will. Instead, the two judges believed that the facts proved that a monthly tenancy existed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
459 A.2d 811, 313 Pa. Super. 206, 1983 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2919, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mercer-county-agriculture-society-v-barnhardt-pasuperct-1983.