The sun., 1919-04-13
COURT DECIDES IN
FAVOR OF TENANTS
Ruling Would Prevent Lessons
From Raising Rents in
Certain Cases.

A decision which will be of extreme
interest, TO thousands and which Will
IL not later overruled In n higher court
have an important bearing upon the re-
lations of landlord and tenant was
handed down by Judge Crane last week
in the Seventh District Municipal Court.
The case decided was that of the Lee
Real Estate Company against Kinney.
In this case the defendant Kinney,
had originally had lease. but had not
renewed 1t and had continued to occupy
the premises after the expiration or tho
term agreed upon In the lease and had
| continued to pay the same amount or
| rent that he had been accustomed to pay
| ing Later the landlord decided to raise
the rent, and when Kinney refused to
pay the increase brought suit against
him. Judge Crane decided in favor OF
| the defendant
| Broadly speaking. the precedent estao-
lished in the Kinney case, Ii that where
| a tenant has once had a lease and
after II expired has continued to pay
rent at the old rate and has been treated
by the landlord as a "holdover" and not
as q trespasser he cannot be elected
or forced to pay a higher rent until
the following May.
| John NJ. Ward OF 277 Broadway, at
| torney for the defendant In the Kinney
case, claimed-and his contention was
sustained by the court-that his client
was not obliged to pay more rent than
he had been paying after his lease had
expired. He also asserted that the de-
PENDANT was entitled to occupy tho
premises involved in the litigation until
the expiration OF the term of an I'M
written lease al provided In the sta tutes
covering the subject passed in 1909.
The law of 1909 provided that where
10 lease had been signed. the transac-
tion between tenant and landlord was
to be regarded as an unwritten agree
nent running until May /. which for
many years was regarded as the date
upon which most yearly leases expired
Under this law a tenant without
lease could not be elected until the first
OF May, provided he paid his rent reg
Iularly and conducted himself In a proper
manner
Many landlords complained that .tis
was an unjust arrangement and often
worked greatly to their disadvantage.
SO in 1918 a statute was passed amend
ing the law of 1909 to the effect that
where no lease existed a tenancy was
TO be regarded as tenancy from month
to month.
Counsel for the landlord In the Kinney
case based their case on the law ss
amended In 1918, claiming that the de-
PENDANT after his lease had expired was
a tenant from month to month. Mr..
Ward, however. successfully contended
that the law as amended applied only
to those cases where there was no orig
inal lease and that in Mr.. Kinney's case.
the landlord who had accepted rent for
a period beyond the term OF the lease.
had forfeited his right to treat the de-
PENDANT as a trespasser and had elected
to treat him as "holdover." thereby
obligating himself to allow him to oc-
cupy the property at the old rent until
May I.
Mr.. Ward in discussing the case yes
terday declared that he believed the de-
cision to be a sound one. which would
be sustained II the question was ever
appealed to a higher court. He said !,
The decision handed down by Judge
Crane will not help tenants where the
facts are not similar to those in the
Kinney case. but believe that there are
thousands of men and women in the
city who. after having signed leases for
the first year or so of their occupancy.
have afterward continued to retain
their homes or places OF business IN
the belief that the old arrangement was
TO remain in force indefinitely. These
are the tenants who will beneht II the
decision In tho Kinney case In fol-
lowed"
Landlords however, are inclined 70
tho belief that the decision In the
Kinney case Is not based on good law
and will not be sustained n again
brought to trial.