65 Mass. 93 | Mass. | 1853
From the facts agreed, and the special verdict in this case, it appears that che defendants were sureties for one Archibald Little, by a written agreement for the rent of a house in Thatcher Court; that said Little occupied said house under a paroi lease, commencing October 15th, 1849, the rent being at first payable monthly in advance, but subsequently, upon the giving of the said written guaranty by the defendants, payable at the expiration of each month;
The only question raised upon these facts is, whether either of said notices was valid and sufficient to terminate the paroi lease under which said Little occupied the premises. It has already been decided, upon full consideration, that under Rev. Sts. c. 60, § 26, a notice to quit, when the rent is payable monthly, in order to be effectual for the purpose of terminating a tenancy at will, must expire in a month from the day on which the rent becomes payable, and that a notice to quit which breaks into the month and expires on an intermediate day, is invalid and insufficient. Prescott v. Elm, 7 Cush. 346. But the defendants contend that the present case is not governed by that decision, because the notice of January 5th, although insufficient to determine the lease on the 5th of February, for the reason that it would not expire on the day when the rent became due, would nevertheless be sufficient to terminate it on the fifteenth day of February, because the plaintiff would thus have received a notice which covered an entire interval of a month between the days of payment. But this position cannot be maintained. It is a well settled rule of law, applicable to notices to quit, that, in order to be valid, the day on which the tenancy is to be terminated by the notice must be truly stated, and that any mistake in this respect will be fatal. The authorities all concur on this point, and are collected in 2 Archb. N. P. 397.
Judgment for the plaintiff.
