Court Opinion

ID: 9604358
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:20:17.503658+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:21.464566
License: Public Domain

Townsend, J.,
concurring specially. Since an erroneous charge to the jury is not cured by verdict, I disagree with divisions 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the opinion as written.
I do not think the court erred in submitting the case to the jury on the theory that only the relationship of landlord and tenant was involved, and that there was no estate for years so as to make the defendant liable as a matter of law for repairs. There was no request to charge on this subject, and no such contention was made by plaintiff in the trial court. Nothing in this record suggests an estate for years was intended except the bare fact that the lease was to run for 5 years, which when standing alone, is sufficient to create such a presumption. Schofield v. Jones, 85 Ga. 816, 823 (11 S. E. 1032). But the question is one of the intention of the parties, and a 15-year lease may create the relation of landlord and tenant. Johnson v. Brice, 151 Ga. 472 (107 S. E. 338). An estate for years creates an ownership in the lessee during the lease period. Wilson Mfg. Co. v. Chamberlin-Johnson-Dubose Co., 140 Ga. 593 (79 S. E. 465). An owner of an estate for years is liable for taxes, among other things. Evans Theatre Corp. v. DeGive Invest. Co., 79 Ga. App. 62 (52 S. E. 2d 655). Nothing in this record reveals any fact, or any contention of the plaintiff on the trial of the case, that this was *481other than an ordinary rental agreement. A provision in the lease itself that the tenant might make repairs to facilitate his business suggests it was not so intended, as the owner of an estate for years has the right to make such repairs in any event, while one enjoying only a usufruct does not. Further, the course of conduct between the parties shows that the plaintiff did make repairs on demand by the defendant, and in her testimony she did not contend that she had no such obligation, but only that she did make such repairs whenever demand was made upon her. The contract which was in evidence and was before the court is ambiguous as to whether it creates the relationship of landlord and tenant or an estate for years. Ordinarily, therefore, this, issue should be resolved by a jury under appropriate instructions. However, when the contract is construed in light of all the facts and circumstances as shown by the evidence, the conclusion is inescapable that the relationship of landlord and tenant existed under it, and this is true even though the agreement extended for a period of five years and thus created a prima facie presumption that it conveyed an estate for years. Accordingly, in my opinion, the trial court did not err in submitting the case to the jury on the theory that the relationship of landlord and tenant existed.