Todd v. May

• Decision Date: 05 July 1973
• Docket Number: No. CV,CV
• Citation: 6 Conn.Cir.Ct. 731,316 A.2d 793
• Court: Connecticut Circuit Court
• Parties: Nancy TODD v. James MAY. 1-7211-36228.

Page 793

316 A.2d 793

6 Conn.Cir.Ct. 731

Nancy TODD v. James MAY.

No. CV 1-7211-36228.

Circuit Court of Connecticut, First Circuit.

July 5, 1973.

Willard Carter, Wilton, for plaintiff.

Steven P. Hershey, Stamford, for defendant.

HENEBRY, Judge.

The plaintiff brings this action of summary process on the ground of nonpayment of rent for premises allegedly occupied by the defendant in Stamford, Connecticut. Service of the summary process writ, which was dated November 1, 1972, was accomplished by abode service on November 3, 1972. The writ alleged a month-to-month oral leasing by the plaintiff to the defendant at $200 per month due and payable on the first day of each month and that the eviction action was based on nonpayment of rent. A copy of the notice to quit, dated October 17, 1972, and showing on the deputy sheriff's return thereon an abode service on October 19, 1972, was filed with the writ, although the notice to quit was neither incorporated by reference in the complaint nor attached as an exhibit to it. The copy of the notice to quit, contrary to the allegations in the writ, alleged the reason for the notice to quit as being a failure on the part of the defendant to pay a rental sum of $50 per week.

In addition to filing an answer in which all of the allegations of the complaint were denied, the defendant set up four special defenses as follows: (1) The premises contained numerous violations of the municipal and state housing and health code standards, and any leasing of the premises was, therefore, illegal. (2) The premises were untenantable and unfit for human habitation at all times relevant to the action. (3) Within six months prior to the institution of the action, the defendant in good faith attempted to remedy the state and local housing and health violations either by contacting the city officials who filed notices or orders in regard to the violations or by requesting the landlord to make repairs on the premises. (4) The complaint alleges a month-to-month tenancy by parol lease, while the actual tenancy was on a week-to-week basis, which latter tenancy could not be terminated for nonpayment of rent until nine days had elapsed, at which point in time the lease for nonpayment of rent had already expired by lapse of time and could not thereafter be otherwise terminated.

The court finds the following facts:

For some ten years prior to the institution of the action the plaintiff had owned. Among other properties, approximately five 'in row' tenement houses in Stamford, Connecticut. Each of the apartments had six rooms and a bath, with a front and a back porch and a large cellar. One of the apartments had been occupied by the defendant for some time prior to November 1, 1972. The rental for this apartment was $185 per month until it was raised to $200 per month sometime prior to November 1, 1972. The leasing arrangement, as contemplated and actually carried out by the parties, was actually, however, on a week-to-week basis, originally $45 per week and later, but prior to November 1, 1972, $50 per week.

Over the years, and by her own admission when called as a witness for the defendant, the plaintiff had received 'hundreds' of orders from the health department to fix up or make repairs to many of these apartments, including that of the defendant. By letter dated August 30, 1972, the defendant notified the plaintiff that owing to the dangerous conditions existing on the premises he was not willing to renew the existing lease arrangement but would only be willing to pay $100 a month henceforth. This notice was received by the plaintiff along with many others in a similar vein from tenants occupying properties owned by the plaintiff.

It was the defendant's testimony that he had lived at the address as a tenant for some seven years; that living on the premises with him were some nine children, the youngest of whom was six years of age; that the rental charge had originally been $40 per week, after which it had been raised to $45 per week and finally to $50 per week, which latter rental he had refused to pay, but he had offered to continue to pay the $45 per week; that prior to November 1, 1972, he and his wife decided not to pay more than $100 per month, and as a consequence of this decision his wife signed and sent the letter from both of them to the plaintiff, the letter being in the form of a notice of a rent strike which was sent out by many of the plaintiff's tenants on or about the same time; that the defendant had decided to send the letter to the plaintiff because she had said she would not make repairs to the premises but would knock it to the ground first; that during the three months prior to November, 1972, the premises were in bad shape, i.e. the paint was peeling on the walls and woodwork in three bedrooms, rats and roaches were infesting the premises a hole in the floor of one of the bedrooms which was large enough for one leg of the bed to fall through had not been repaired, plaster was falling from the walls and ceilings of the upstairs rooms, and the stair treads between the first and second floor were weak; and, lastly, that the defendant had been compelled about six years prior to November, 1972, to pay for the installation of...