90 Minn. 273 | Minn. | 1903
This is an action to recover unpaid rent;' also, for expenses of the landlord incurred in removing property damaged by fire and left on the premises by the tenant after surrendering the same. The cause was tried to the court, who made findings of fact, and held as a conclusion of- law that plaintiffs were entitled to recover a portion of one month’s rent; also, a specific sum for expenses incurred by the landlord in taking away injured goods of defendants after they had quit. This appeal is from an order denying a new trial.
The following facts are embraced in the findings of the court and are supported by the evidence: Plaintiffs leased’a building in the
By the terms of the written lease it was provided that upon its expiration, or when terminated by forfeiture or otherwise, the tenants would yield up the premises in as good condition as when the same were entered, “loss by fire, inevitable accident, or ordinary wear excepted.” There are other provisions in the lease relative to the surrender of the premises upon notice, as well as for the removal of offal and garbage, which were discussed on the argument; but under' the view we have adopted these portions of the rental contract do not affect the result, and need not be considered.
There is no controversy over the amount found to be due as unpaid rent for a part of the month of November, but it is insisted that, after defendants had removed the portion of their stock which they took away in December, they might without breach of duty allow a considerable portion to remain upon the surrender of the building. A reasonable construction of the facts- found by the trial court authorizes the view that the relations between the landlord and tenants were actually terminated by agreement on December x, when the landlord, desiring to take possession of his property to make repairs, entered on that day, and that the tenants were licensed by the landlord thereafter to be there for the purpose of taking -away their property, and
We have no doubt that the provision in the lease for the surrender of the premises'by the tenants in as good condition as when received applies to the building itself. The exception relating to injury of the building by fire, while it would excuse the tenants from repairing or rebuilding, would not justify them in imposing burdens upon the landlord arising strictly from the tenants’ occupancy and use of the premises ; hence the injury by fire to the goods of defendants was a misfortune they had to assume themselves. A part of this was the injury to the furniture still belonging to them, and which, under the terms of the lease as well as upon reasonable considerations of justice, it was their duty, rather than the landlord’s, to remove. It would follow that the tenants, under the privilege to take away their goods, could not enjoy it so far as beneficial, and leave a part of their damaged property in the building to incumber plaintiffs’ possession, and the expenses incurred by the landlord in removing the rubbish which defendants left and declined to take away was a legal obligation against them.
Order affirmed.