134 Mo. App. 1 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1908
Action by landlords against their tenant to recover rent alleged to be due and unpaid. In obedience to a peremptory instruction, the jury returned a verdict for plaintiffs in the sum of seventy dollars, and the cause is here on the appeal of defendant.
Defendant offered witnesses to prove that the house was “unhealthful, unsanitary and untenantable; that the condition of the house and the plumbing therein caused the ill health of himself, his wife, his child and others, living in the house; that the sewer gas escaped from the pipes in the house; that it was plainly noticeable to them that natural gas would escape from the
It devolved on defendant to prove, not only that the plumbing was defective, but that its condition rendered the premises untenantable and. that the landlords, with knowledge of these facts, violated an agreement to keep the premises in repair. [Delmar Investment Co. v. Blumenfield, 118 Mo. App. 308; Roberts v. Cottey, 100 Mo. App. 500; Graff v. Brewing Co., 130 Mo. App. 618.] The most that may be said of the evidence of defendant is that it shows the plumbing became defective during the course of the tenancy and that plaintiffs were informed of the existence of the defect. It does not appear that the premises were untenantable, or that plaintiffs were under any duty to keep them in repair. In the case presented in the record, it is clear that plaintiffs are entitled to recover rents for the months of May and June, and that the court did not
The judgment is affirmed.