Opinion ID: 2608576
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: to the residents of heeia kea

Text: It is agreed that I will postpone the eviction notice of July 15 to August 1 on the basis that all of the residents of Heeia Kea will submit and sign a proposal to Hawaiian Electric Company by June 9 agreeing to maintain their homes in a condition to meet all building codes and to hold Hawaiian Electric Company harmless. The Company and residents will meet and negotiate over the terms of the residents' plan and reduce the plan to a legal agreement that will be signed by all residents and the Company. Then, on July 2, 1975 HECO wrote a letter to the residents which contained the following statements: After meeting with representatives of Heeia Kea tenants and thoroughly exploring legal possibilities of continued occupancy of the dwellings at Heeia Kea, we have found that we have no alternative but to terminate your tenancy as outlined in our letter to you dated April 15, 1975. The Law [§ 521-42(a)(1), Hawaii Revised Statutes] requires the landlord to comply with all applicable provisions of any State or County law, code, ordinance or regulation. Under this law, HECO is unable to transfer to you its responsibility as a landlord by entering into any agreement for you to bring the dwelling up to standard. ..... In this letter of July 2 HECO attempted to reinstate the date for termination of the tenancies which had been announced in the April 15 letter. However, the second notice sent to the residents and signed by the President of HECO modified the 90-day notice of the April 15 letter by its agreement to postpone the eviction notice of July 15 to August 1... . This second letter therefore had the effect of re-issuing or amending the 90-day notice of April 15. In line with the provisions of HRS § 521-71(a) HECO was obligated to give 90-day notice beginning from the date the notice was re-issued or amended; HECO was obligated to give 90-day notice beginning on May 19, 1975. As early as 1869 this court, in Brewer v. Chase, 3 Haw. 127, 138 (1869), acknowledged a basic precept of Anglo-American jurisprudence, and stated: Undoubtedly, in tenancies determinable by the landlord's act or will, we should require a notice, reasonably definite and seasonable, before the tenant would be compelled to deliver up the premises. To effect the termination of a lease, technical accuracy in the wording of a notice is not required but the notice must be so certain that it cannot be reasonably misunderstood. Torrey v. Adams, 254 Mass. 22, 149 N.E. 618 (1925). Such certainty is required with respect to the fixation of the day for the termination of the lease and the quitting of the premises. HECO, however, argues that all of the residents except the two who hold as original tenants of Bishop Estate, are trespassers without right and under HRS § 666-1 [5] the landlord is entitled to summary possession on ten days notice. We disagree. HECO is estopped from arguing that these residents hold possession of their properties without right. HECO had been accepting rent and tax payments from these tenants for more than ten years when it filed for summary possession against each resident. See Food Pantry, Ltd. v. Waikiki Business Plaza, Inc., 58 Haw. 606, 575 P.2d 869 (1978); Gonsalves v. Gilbert, 44 Haw. 543, 356 P.2d 379 (1960); Kanakanui v. DeFries, 21 Haw. 123 (1912). HECO's other argument for applying HRS § 666-1 is that the premises are in a state of disrepair in violation of the original leases which gives the landlord the right to evict under § 661-1. We again disagree. The landlord's remedies against his tenant for failure of the tenant to maintain the dwelling unit are governed by chapter 521 of the Code. Any conflict between chapter 666 and chapter 521 is controlled by the latter. See § 521-3(b). We have determined that HRS § 521-71(a) controls this fact situation in view of HECO's anticipated demolition of the dwelling units; chapter 521 therefore controls these termination proceedings. Accordingly, we hold that HECO failed to give the required 90-day notice to the residents under the Code. Reversed.