Tag: oral lease

The Statute of Frauds ‘One-Year Rule’ (IL Law Basics)

SOFThe Statute of Frauds (SOF) requires certain contracts to be in writing to be enforceable.  (See earlier post here).  740 ILCS 80/1; 810 ILCS 5/2-201 (UCC analog).

The SOF’s “one-year rule” posits that any contract that can’t possibly be performed within the span of one year from the date of making must be in writing.  The purpose of the one-year rule is to protect against stale memories and evidence.

Typical settings for the one-year rule defense include multi-year leases and “lifetime” employment contracts (i.e., plaintiff sues an employer claiming breach of a promise to employ the plaintiff for life).

In Chiappe-Kay v. Barthel, 2013 IL App (2d) 120975-U, the plaintiff sued the defendant after the defendant failed to transfer a Personal Seat License that allowed the defendant (and would now allow the plaintiff) to buy Chicago Bears season tickets for life.

The plaintiff sued for specific performance and defendant moved for summary judgment based on the one-year rule: the oral football tickets agreement was defeated because  it couldn’t be performed within the space of a year.

Siding with the defendant, the Court described the one-year rule’s purpose as barring actions “based upon nothing more than loose verbal statements.”  It held that the parties’ agreement couldn’t be performed within the space of a year since the agreement was that the plaintiff would receive season tickets for life based on defendant’s PSL. (¶ 16).

The Court also found that the one-year rule barred plaintiff’s claim because the Bears instituted a one-year ban on the transfer of PSLs when the Bears first issued the PSL to the defendant.  As a result, there was no way for the defendant to perform – by transferring the PSL – to the plaintiff within a one-year time span.  (¶¶ 19-21).

Farmers and Merchants v. Hulett, 2012 IL App (3d) 120022-U, involves an oral agreement between a former land trustee and the beneficiary for that beneficiary to rent a house (owned by the land trust) for the beneficiary’s lifetime.

When the successor trustee assumed control of the trust, it sent a notice terminating the tenancy and sued to evict the beneficiary tenant.  The tenant opposed the eviction suit and argued that he was allowed to live in the house for his lifetime.  The Court entered summary judgment for the successor trustee and found that the defendant’s claim to a lifetime tenancy was unenforceable since it wasn’t in writing.

The Court noted that the written land trust agreement was silent on the defendant’s right to occupy the house.  Because of this, the tenant had, at most, an oral lease agreement with the prior trustee.

In Illinois, an oral lease for a period exceeding a year – such as a lifetime lease – is treated as a year-to-year lease.  A year-to-year lease can be terminated on a landlord’s sixty-day written notice.  735 ILCS 5/9-205 (year-to-year lease is terminable on 60 days’ notice).

The Court found the successor timely terminated the oral lease under the Illinois forcible detainer statute.

Hulett also provides good reading on the topics of promissory estoppel (which usually is not an exception to the SOF) and equitable estoppel (which is). (¶¶ 14-15).

Promissory estoppel applies where someone takes action in reliance on a verbal promise by the defendant.  Equitable estoppel involves some element of calculated misconduct or deception by the defendant.

Commercial Lessor’s Acceptance of Rent After Lease Termination Notice Doesn’t Waive Termination

 Z&S Corp. v. Fill & Fly, Inc., 2014 IL App (3d) 130253-U examines whether a commercial lessor, who serves a 30-day notice to terminate an oral month-to-month lease, waives the termination  by accepting rents after the notice period expires.  The case also addresses what factual elements a plaintiff must prove to prevail on a specific performance claim under Illinois law.

The defendant operated gas stations on two properties owned by the plaintiff since 2008.  And while they had discussed the defendant’s purchase of the sites at various times – most recently in 2009 – they were operating under a verbal month-to-month tenancy pursuant to which the tenant paid monthly rents and real estate taxes to the plaintiff landlord.  When tenant defaulted under the oral lease, plaintiff served a 30-day notice (on February 28, 2012) to terminate the tenancy (effective March 31, 2012) and eventually filed a forcible suit seeking possession of both properties.  After the 30-day termination period expired, plaintiff accepted some rent payments from the tenant defendant.

The tenant filed a 2-619 motion to dismiss the forcible action on the basis that the landlord waived the 30-day termination notice by accepting rents after March 31, 2012 – the 30 day notice period’s expiration.  735 ILCS 5/9-207 (month-to-month tenancy terminable on 30 days’ notice); See  http://paulporvaznik.com/how-to-terminate-periodic-tenancies/23,

The trial court rejected this argument and denied the tenant’s motion on the basis that the parties were actively engaged in settlement talks and so the landlord’s lease termination notice wasn’t waived when the landlord accepted post-termination rents.  After a bench trial, the trial court found in favor of the plaintiff and awarded it possession of the properties.  The  trial court also entered judgment for plaintiff on the tenant’s specific performance counterclaim – which sought to enforce an earlier purchase contract for the sites – on the basis that the purchase contract lapsed.  The tenant appealed both the denial of its 2-619 motion and the trial result.  Z & S, ¶¶ 21-22.

The Third District affirmed the trial court.  On the termination notice issue, the Court held that a landlord’s acceptance of rent after a termination date usually results in a waiver of the notice.  Z & S, ¶ 30; Bismark Hotel Co. v. Sutherland, 92 Ill.App.3d 167, 173 (1980).  But Illinois case law provides that if the parties are involved in active settlement negotiations at the time the landlord accepts the rent payment, the landlord’s acceptance of the rent won’t waive the lease termination.  Z & S, ¶ 30; Yarc v. American Hospital Supply Corp., 17 Ill.App.3d 667, 671 (1974).  Here, since the record evidence demonstrated that the parties were engaged in settlement talks, the landlord’s acceptance of rent after the 30-day notice period ended didn’t nullify the notice.

The Court also upheld the trial verdict in landlord’s favor on the tenant’s specific performance claim. The tenant was trying to enforce a 2009 purchase contract for the two gas station properties.  A key component of a specific performance claim is whether the claimant (1) has complied with all terms of the contract or (2) was ready, willing and able to complete the contract but was prevented from doing so by the opposing party. Z & S, ¶ 37; Maywood Proviso State Bank v. York State Bank and Trust Co., 252 Ill.App.3d 164, 171 (1993).

The defendant’s failure to establish either element doomed its specific performance claim.  The trial evidence demonstrated that the defendant’s failure to pay real estate taxes on the properties – as required under the lease and aborted purchase contract – was the reason the properties’ mortgage lender wouldn’t permit defendant to assume the existing mortgages on the sites and consummate the purchase.  Also, the Court noted that the defendant’s principal’s trial testimony established that he was unable to complete financing for the purchase of the properties because he didn’t have a green card.  Without a green card, the bank wouldn’t allow the defendant to complete the purchase transaction.  Taken together, the evidence clearly demonstrated that the tenant couldn’t prove either that he complied with the purchase contract or was prevented from doing so by the plaintiff. Z & S, ¶¶ 37-39.

Z & S is useful for its discussion of how to terminate a month-to-month commercial lease and when a landlord can still accept rent payments after a termination notice lapses.  The case also shows that to plead and prove specific performance, a litigant must show that he either complied with the contract terms or stood ready to but was impeded by some act of the other contracting party.