English v. Yates

Citations

• 205 Pa. 106
• 54 A. 503
• 1903 Pa. LEXIS 525

Syllabus

<p>Landlord and tenant — Lease—Forfeiture clause — Default—Waiver.</p> <p>A clause in a lease that it shall be null and void on failure of the lessee to pay rent or keep other covenants, is not self-operating so as to make the lease void ipso facto by the default but being a provision for the benefit of the lessor may be enforced or waived at his option.</p> <p>While parties may contract that on a default the lease may become void at the option of either party, yet such intent in the agreement must be so plain as to be unavoidable, in order to sustain such a construction.</p> <p>A lessee by his own default in the payment of an instalment of rent, cannot end the lease and release his surety from liability from future instalments, unless the lease, in clear terms, gives him this power.</p> <p>Principal and surety — Landlord and tenant — Tender.</p> <p>In an action against a surety of a lessee to recover rent in default, an affidavit oí defense is insufficient which avers that the lessee offered to pay to the plaintiff on account of the rent a sum mentioned, “ that sum being the amount which she had in bank at that time, as shown by her deposit book,” and that the plaintiff had refused to receive said sum.</p>