Tressler's Estate

Citations

• 66 Pa. Super. 547
• 1917 Pa. Super. LEXIS 313

Syllabus

<p>Equity — Specific performance — Sale of real estate — -Proceeding in Orphans’ Court — Sale to tenant — Evidence.</p> <p>Where a purchaser of real estate by parol is in possession as a tenant; and there is a cotenant in possession with the purchaser, and the landlord directs the eotenant to pay the rent to the purchasing tenant as owner, and the tenant so pays the rent, this will effect such a change of possession that with the payment in part of, the purchase-price, will enable the vendee to enforce specific performance of the contract of sale in the Orphans’ Court after the death of the vendor.</p> <p>Specific performance of an oral contract to sell real-estate will be enforced in a proceeding in the Orphans’ Court against a decedent’s estate, where the evidence shows that the decedent made several declarations that he had sold the property in question to the petitioner; that the property was a double house, one-half occupied by the petitioner as a tenant and the other half by another tenant; that the decedent had directed the other tenant to pay the rent to petitioner which he did; that the decedent had given the petitioner a receipt for $100 “in full for house and lot”; and that decedent had taken petitioner’s son on the premises and pointed out to him the boundary lines.</p> <p>In such a ease the fact that the purchase-price was $100 while the real value of the property was over $500 is immaterial, if it is shown that the decedent was a friend of the petitioner, that the latter was a cripple; that decedent had stated that he had made the sale so that his friend would “not need to move around,” and that decedent by his will,attempted to give all his property to charity.</p>