Question

Tommy enters a lease with Hans, the landlord. The lease has no certain period and can be terminated by either Tommy or Hans. Tommy and Hans become friends and Tommy tells Hans he plans to continue renting from him for a long time. The next day, Tommy dies. Hans has a difficult time replacing the rent for the next 6 months from January to June. Hans wants to sue Tommy's estate for 6 months of rent. Can he?

Answer 1

No, Hans cannot sue Tommy's estate for 6 months of rent. In this case, since the lease had no certain period and could be terminated by either party, it was a lease at-will. A lease at-will means that either party can terminate the lease at any time, for any reason or no reason at all, with proper notice. In the absence of a specific lease term, the lease is presumed to be at-will.

Even though Tommy and Hans became friends and Tommy expressed his intention to rent from him for a long time, there was no binding agreement to that effect. Therefore, Tommy was within his rights to terminate the lease at any time, even if he had not died.

Since the lease was at-will and Tommy had not breached the lease by failing to pay rent or violating any terms of the lease, Hans has no legal grounds to sue Tommy's estate for unpaid rent.

Step-by-step explanation: