Bockelmann v. Marynick
Decision Date | 25 April 1990 |
Docket Number | No. C-8995,C-8995 |
Citation | 788 S.W.2d 569 |
Parties | Brenda Lewellen BOCKELMANN, Petitioner, v. Samuel P. MARYNICK, et ux., Respondents. |
Court | Texas Supreme Court |
The issue in this appeal of a landlord-tenant dispute is whether a tenant who has vacated the leased premises before the end of the term is liable for rent and repairs accruing during a cotenant's holdover tenancy. The court of appeals held that the tenant is liable unless the tenant gives notice to the landlord that he or she ceases to hold the leased premises. 773 S.W.2d 665. We reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and render judgment for the vacating tenant, holding that one tenant is not jointly liable for the holding over of another.
Brenda Bockelmann and her then husband, Hermann Bockelmann, rented one side of a duplex from Samuel and Sharon Marynick for several years. Their last written lease was jointly executed in 1984, for a twelve-month term ending on February 28, 1985. The lease included the following holdover provision:
Should Tenant remain in possession of the demised premises with the consent of Lessor after the natural expiration of this lease, a new tenancy from year to year shall be created between Lessor and Tenant which shall be subject to all the terms and conditions hereof but shall be terminable by 60 days notice.
Ten days before the lease expired, Brenda separated from her husband and vacated the premises.
After the lease expired, Hermann remained in possession of the duplex and continued to pay rent. During part of 1985, however, Hermann was unable to pay his rent. Hermann and Samuel agreed, in writing, to a "loan" that suspended Hermann's rent payments for seven months and required repayment with interest. Hermann resumed his rent payments in November 1985 and began making loan payments in January 1986.
At the conclusion of the first holdover year, Hermann again retained possession of the duplex. He continued to make both rent and loan payments through June 1986, when he defaulted on both obligations. At the insistence of the Marynicks, Hermann vacated the duplex on September 7, 1986.
The Marynicks brought suit against Hermann and Brenda to recover unpaid rent, the expense of repairs, and the balance due under the loan contract. The trial court rendered summary judgment for the Marynicks against Hermann but ordered that they take nothing against Brenda. The Marynicks appealed from the take-nothing judgment against Brenda. The court of appeals, with one justice dissenting, affirmed in part and reversed in part. The court agreed that Brenda was not liable under the loan contract, thus affirming part of the trial court's judgment. 1 However the court reversed the remainder of the trial court's judgment, holding that Brenda was liable for unpaid rent and repairs because her "joint obligations under the lease continued through the first and second holdover terms by virtue of Hermann's holding over." 773 S.W.2d at 673.
Although this issue is one of first impression in this state, it has been addressed by at least four other jurisdictions. The earliest reported decision was by the South Carolina Supreme Court, which held that when a lease is executed by two tenants jointly and only one occupies after expiration of the term, the law will presume that both tenants are holdovers unless the tenant not in actual possession gives notice to the landlord that he or she ceases to hold. Fronty v. Wood, 20 S.C.L. (2 Hill) 367 (1834). The court below relied on this decision. The Supreme Court of Arizona and an appellate court in New York, however, have rejected the South Carolina presumption, holding instead that one tenant cannot be involuntarily bound to a new tenancy by the acts of another. Mosher v. Sabra, 34 Ariz. 536, 541, 273 P. 534, 535 (1929) ( ); Foster v. Stewart, 196 A.D. 814, 816, 188 N.Y.S. 151, 152 (App.Div.1921) ( ). More recently, a California intermediate court followed Fronty v. Wood and distinguished the Arizona and New York decisions by concluding that California treats a holdover tenancy as an extension of the original agreement rather than a new tenancy. Schmitt v. Felix, 157 Cal.App.2d 642, 645, 321 P.2d 473, 475 (1958) ( ).
The court below held that notice was required in order to terminate Brenda's continuing obligations under the joint lease. We disagree. The lease created a tenancy for a definite term (a tenancy with a specified beginning and ending date). The general rule is that a tenancy for a definite term does not require a tenant to give notice in order to terminate the tenancy, because a tenancy for a definite term simply expires at the end of the contract period. Barragan v. Munoz, 525 S.W.2d 559, 562 (Tex.Civ.App.--El Paso 1975, no writ); Restatement (Second) of Property Landlord & Tenant § 1.4 comment e (1977) ("a tenancy for a fixed or computable period of time expires without notice at the end of the...
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