Opinion ID: 1834725
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Defendant's Motion for Directed Verdict.

Text: One of the principal disputes is whether the defendant, or the occupants of the town house, were legally liable for the injury. The decedent's daughter and son-in-law, the Trevillyans, had rented the town house since July 1987 under written leases. At the time of the fall, however, the Trevillyans were in the process of purchasing the town home from Jensen under an offer to buy of October 1990, and the last written lease had expired. The defendant, Jensen, claims that he was not liable as of March 24, 1991, because he had sold the property, under the offer to buy, the previous October. The plaintiff counters that, while there was an offer to buy pending at the time of the accident, the sale had not been completed and, in fact, was not completed until the following July. The plaintiff contends, and the Trevillyans agree, that, despite the expiration of the written lease, the Trevillyans were still tenants under the same terms as the previous written lease. See Meier v. Johannsen, 242 Iowa 665, 669-70, 47 N.W.2d 793, 795-96 (1951). The defendant contends that, as a vendor in the contract of sale, he was not liable to the vendee or any other person for personal injury suffered due to a condition of the property existing at the time of the transfer. See Emile F. Short, Annotation, Liability of Vendor or Grantor of Real Estate for Personal Injury to Purchaser or Third Person Due to Defective Condition of Premises, 48 A.L.R.3d 1027, 1031 (1973); see also W. Page Keeton et al., Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts § 64, at 446-50 (5th ed. 1984) [hereinafter Prosser and Keeton ]; Restatement (Second) of Torts § 352 (1965) (vendor not liable for dangerous conditions existing at time vendor transfers possession). The defendant points out that the Trevillyans were in possession at the time of the incident. However, we believe they were in possession as tenants, not purchasers. The written lease had expired, but the tenants remained in the town house and continued to pay $500 per month as they had under the written lease. The Trevillyans considered the $500 per month as rent. The defendant also treated the payments as something other than contract payments because, when the final settlement was made, he gave no credit against the sale price for the monthly payments received. The plaintiff's position is that Jensen was a landlord, not a vendor, at the time of the incident. A landlord is liable for harm to persons on the land with a lessee's permission if it results from a condition of disrepair existing before or after the lessee has taken possession if a lessor has contracted to keep the property in repair. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 357 (1965); see also Prosser and Keeton § 63, at 443-45. When reviewing a motion for a directed verdict, we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the resisting party, and the motion ruling will be affirmed if there is any substantial evidence in support of the elements of the plaintiff's case. Swanson v. McGraw, 447 N.W.2d 541, 542-43 (Iowa 1989). The lease between the parties required the defendant to maintain and repair the property. We believe the evidence supports the conclusion that the sale had not been completed and that the defendant's responsibility as lessor under the original lease still bound him to repair the premises. The offer to buy was still conditional at the time of the injury, and it was not, in fact, completed until July 1991, when settlement was made and the deed delivered. The general rule is that the contract for the conveyance of real estate at a future time on condition that the purchaser perform certain acts or make certain payments does not create an equitable title in the purchaser until the purchaser performs the acts and makes the payments agreed upon. 91 C.J.S. Vendor & Purchaser § 106, at 1013-14 (1955). Because the parties remained in their relationship of landlord and tenants at the time of this incident, Jensen's contractual responsibility to make repairs and maintain the property remained in effect, and he was therefore liable to Sylvia Pohl.