408 A.2d 17 | Conn. Super. Ct. | 1979
This is an action in summary process wherein the plaintiff landlord seeks possession of an apartment unit occupied by the defendant tenant on an oral month-to-month lease. The complaint alleges termination of the lease. The defendant tenant filed a motion to dismiss alleging that the plaintiff and the defendant had contracted for a new monthly tenancy subsequent to the notice to quit. The notice to quit, which was served on March 20, 1979, in the manner prescribed by General Statutes §
The defendant, in effect, contends that summary process can be successfully thwarted by a self-serving, unilateral, unsolicited mailing of rental money by a tenant to a landlord after the issuance of a notice to quit and prior to the issuance of a complaint. This court does not agree with that novel interpretation of Connecticut summary process laws. The defendant's conduct is condoned neither by the statutes nor by the case law. Summary process is a statutory remedy in derogation of the common law, and it has therefore been held that it must be strictly construed and narrowly followed. Jo-Mark Sand Gravel Co. v. Pantanella,
The defendant essentially charges that the plaintiff accepted the rental payment or, in the alternative, is charged with acceptance by his retention of the money order. The court agrees with counsel that an acceptance of rent by a landlord after the termination of a tenancy waives any default by a tenant which may allegedly have existed and renews the tenancy; Borst v. Ruff,
The defendant's alternative argument is that the plaintiff's retention of the money order from the *260 date of its receipt (April 2, 1979) to the date of the motion to dismiss (April 16, 1979) is tantamount to an acceptance. The court disagrees. Mere retention is insufficient. In order to constitute acceptance, retention requires a demonstration of ownership such as an endorsement or an actual cashing of the money order or check. None of this is present in the case at bar.
The defendant relies heavily on Tuttle v. Martin,
The flaw in the defendant's case is that it seeks to impose upon the landlord an obligation not required by Connecticut summary process statutes. In effect, the defendant's position, if adopted, would either impose an unwarranted obligation upon landlords to do an affirmative act, namely, return any offers, or else open every summary process complaint to a motion to dismiss. The defendant's position is both legally and socially unsound.
Accordingly, the defendant's motion to dismiss is denied.