283 Mass. 91 | Mass. | 1933
The plaintiff seeks in this action of contract to recover rent for November and December, 1931, and January, 1932, at the rate of $62.50 for the demised premises. Undisputed facts are that the plaintiff and defendant entered into a written lease of the premises for the term of one year commencing April 1, 1929, and ending March 31, 1930. The lease contained the following words: “with the option to renew this lease for two years more at the expiration hereof, yielding and paying therefor the rent of eight hundred ten dollars ($810.00) per year for the first year in
It is plain that the clause in the lease constituted an option for renewal. An option for renewal “imports the giving a new lease like the old one, with the same terms and stipulations; at the same rent and with all the essential covenants.” Cunningham v. Pattee, 99 Mass. 248, 252. Shannon v. Jacobson, 262 Mass. 463, 466. The distinction between an option for renewal of a lease as thus described and an option for the extension of a lease is plain. The latter requires or contemplates not the execution of a new lease but simply continuance of the original lease for a further time upon compliance with the conditions for the exercise of the option. This distinction is firmly established. Shannon v. Jacobson, 262 Mass. 463, at page 466.
In Leavitt v. Maykel, 203 Mass. 506, there was a lease containing an option for renewal for a further term of two years upon the same terms. The rent for the term covered by the lease was fully paid and the tenant remained in occupation eight months after the expiration of the term and during that period made monthly payments of rent to the landlord at the rate prescribed by the lease. The tenant then moved out giving only three days’ notice and the landlord brought action for rent. It was said by Chief Justice Knowlton, speaking for the court, at page 509, concerning the clause in the lease giving the tenant an option to renew: “It gave the lessees a right to have a renewal of the lease for two years more, but without a formal renewal or something equivalent to it, it did not extend the term through this additional period. . . . Under the language
The case at bar did not stand solely upon the continued occupancy of the premises by the lessee and payment and acceptance of the rent at the new rate.- Therefore Melrose Operating Co. v. Porter, 256 Mass. 138, is hot applicable. In the case at bar there was express testimony tending to show an oral agreement to renew the lease. The case was to be tried upon all the evidence. In the light of the testimony requests for rulings were rightly refused to the effect that payment by the defendant for the decreased rent and acceptance of the same by the plaintiff without more showed a decision by the lessee to occupy for the additional term and in substance and effect constituted a renewal of the lease. The case is governed by the principle declared in Leavitt v. Maykel, 203 Mass. 506, and in Judkins v. Charette, 255 Mass. 76.
If anything was said in Melrose Operating Co. v. Porter, 256 Mass. 138, inconsistent with this conclusion, it must be taken to be limited by what is here decided and by the authorities here cited.
Exceptions overruled.