Sterck v. Germantown Homestead Co.

Citations

• 27 Pa. Super. 336
• 1905 Pa. Super. LEXIS 62

Syllabus

<p>Deed — Mortgage—Defeasance—Act of June 8, 1881, P. L. 84.</p> <p>A woman desiring to purchase a lot, and not having the money with which to pay for it, applied to a corporation authorized to deal in real estate and stated her desire. The company thereupon bought the lot in question, and paid the purchase money therefor. On the following day the woman subscribed for certain shares of the company for the purpose of purchasing the lot in compliance with the by-laws, and entered into an agreement in writing with the company in the form of a lease, by the terms of which she agreed to pay a certain amount per month for a designated number of months, at the termination of which period the company was to execute a conveyance of the property to her. At the end of a period shorter than the terms designated in the agreement, she refused to make further monthly payments, contended that the transaction between her and the company was a loan; that the contract was usurious, and that she was entitled to a conveyance of the property upon the payment of the price at which the company bought it with interest. Held, that even if the contention of the member' were correct that the title was held by the company as security for a loan, the transaction amounted to a mortgage, and the Act of June 8, 1881, P. L. 84, protected the company in the absence of a written defeasance.</p>