Personal Home Mortgage Co. v. Seegrin

275 Ill. App. 419, 1934 Ill. App. LEXIS 421
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 15, 1934
DocketGen. No. 37,115
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 275 Ill. App. 419 (Personal Home Mortgage Co. v. Seegrin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Personal Home Mortgage Co. v. Seegrin, 275 Ill. App. 419, 1934 Ill. App. LEXIS 421 (Ill. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

Mr. Presiding Justice Matchett

delivered the opinion of the court.

Seegrin, defendant in a suit in forcible entry and detainer, appeals from a judgment entered in favor of plaintiff upon the finding of the court. The premises in controversy are known as No. 2540 Morse avenue in Chicago and are improved by an eight-room brick bungalow. No affidavit of merits was required or filed in the case. There is practically no dispute as to the facts.

September 30, 1930, Frank H. Thie and Louise L. Thie, then the owners in fee simple, conveyed the premises to the Central Trust Company of Illinois, as trustee, to secure their indebtedness in the sum of $2,500, as evidenced by their promissory note, payable to bearer, in instalments. The premises were registered under the Torrens law and the trust deed was filed in the office of the Registrar of Titles in Cook county October 2,1930. On the date that this note and trust deed were executed and delivered, Frank H. Thie and Louise L. Thie executed and delivered to plaintiff, Personal Home Mortgage Company, a writing described as an assignment, which recited the execution of the trust deed by the Thies and stated that the Personal Home Mortgage Company was the owner of it and the note secured thereby and that in order to further secure the indebtedness and as a part of the consideration of the transaction they “hereby sell, assign, transfer, let, demise and set over unto said Personal Home Mortgage Company the possession of all the rents, issues and profits now due and which may hereafter become due under or by virtue of any lease, whether written or verbal, or any letting of, of any agreement for the use or occupancy of any part of the premises hereinbefore described, which may have heretofore or may hereafter be made or agreed to, or which may be made by the assignee herein under the power herein granted, it being the intention to hereby establish an absolute transfer and assignment of all such leases and agreements and all the avails thereunder unto the assignee herein.” The agreement further provided that plaintiff was irrevocably appointed the agent of the Thies for the management of the property; that it might let and re-let said premises according to its own discretion; that it might bring or defend any suits in connection with the premises in its own name or in the name of the Thies; that it might make such repairs to the premises as it considered expedient, and that it might do anything in and about the premises which the grantor Thies might do, thereby ratifying and confirming everything that the attorney should do. The writing further provided:

“Said assignee and attorney-in-fact shall apply the proceeds of said building first in payment of the taxes and operating expenses and then on account of the principal and interest of indebtedness as they consider expedient.

“In the event of the exercise of this assignment the said Frank H. Thie and Louise L. Thie, his wife, agree to pay rent for the apartment or apartments occupied by them at the rate of Twelve Dollars per month for each room, and a failure on their part to promptly pay said rent on the First day of each and every month shall in and of itself constitute a forcible entry and detainer, and said assignee may in their own name, and without any notice or demand, maintain an action of forcible entry and detainer and obtain possession of said apartment or apartments.

“This assignment and power of attorney shall only ' be operative in the event of a default' in the payment of the principal or interest secured by said Trust Deed, or in the event of a breach of any of the covenants in said Trust Deed contained.

“And this assignment and power of attorney shall continue in full force and effect until the indebtedness secured by said deed, including interest and advances, have been duly paid at which time this assignment and power of attorney shall terminate.

“This agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the heirs, executors and assigns of the parties hereto, and shall be construed as a covenant running with the land.” The instrument was on September 30, 1930, acknowledged by the grantors to be their free and voluntary act for the uses and purposes therein set forth, and it was filed in the office of the Registrar of Titles October 2, 1930.

The certificate of title of the Registrar of Titles of Cook county in evidence shows that on October 21, 1932, Hanna Karlquist, a spinster, became the owner of this land in fee simple, subject to incumbrances, easements and estates appearing as memorials thereon, including the trust deed, the written assignments of rents, issues and profits, power of attorney, etc., heretofore described, and that on March 21, 1933, Hanna Karlquist executed and delivered a deed under seal, by which she conveyed and warranted the said premises to Ellen Rose Seegrin for a consideration of $200. This deed was acknowledged but not recorded or filed in the office of the Registrar of Titles. The stipulation shows that Ellen Rose Seegrin resides upon the premises in controversy, and that defendant, G-. E. Seegrin, her husband, resides there with her. The evidence indicates that default was made in the payment of instalments falling due upon the note after January 5, 1933, and that on March 25, 1933, plaintiff mailed to defendant Seegrin a notice stating in substance that he was advised that all further rent for the property occupied by him at 2540 Morse avenue, in accordance with this assignment of rent should be paid at the office of plaintiff on April 1, 1933. This notice was received by defendant Seegrin March 27, 1933. Defendant and his wife were then and up to the time of the trial in possession of the premises.

April 4, 1933, plaintiff caused a landlord’s five-day notice to be served on defendant. The notice stated that $50 rent was due for the premises; that payment was demanded, and that unless payment was made before the expiration of five days after service of the notice, the lease of the premises would be terminated. It was stipulated that this notice was served on defendant more than five days before the institution of this suit, which was begun April 12, 1933.

It is argued by defendant in the first place that by the terms of the assignment it was to become operative only in the event of the existence of a default in payment of the indebtedness evidenced by the note, and that plaintiff has failed to prove that any default existed.

This contention cannot be sustained. The instalment note for $2,500 was produced by plaintiff and received in evidence. Indorsements thereon indicated payments up to January 5, 1933, and no payments thereafter. This was supplemented by the testimony of Frank V. Gilmore, who said in substance that he was acquainted with the facts; that no payments had been made upon the instrument after January 5, 1933, and that plaintiff was the owner of the note, the mortgage and the assignment. There was no evidence to the contrary, and we think this was prima facie sufficient to show a default in payment and give validity to the assignment.

Defendant also says that the provision of the assignment purporting to impose a liability on himself to pay rent failed to fix a definite time when such rent should become payable and that there was therefore no default in the payment of rent at the time of the filing of the suit. This contention is, we hold, without merit.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
275 Ill. App. 419, 1934 Ill. App. LEXIS 421, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/personal-home-mortgage-co-v-seegrin-illappct-1934.