PE2 Housing LP v. Dylan Baker

Summary

The Vermont Superior Court, Windham Unit, denies both Defendant Dylan Baker’s motion to dismiss and Plaintiff PE2 Housing LP’s motion to require rent payments into court in an ejectment action for nonpayment of rent. The court holds that a notice of termination for nonpayment need not state the tenant’s right to cure absent a statutory requirement, although any cure information included must be accurate. The court further concludes that an order requiring rent to be paid into court requires proof that the tenancy was terminated, that rent is owed, and that the tenant failed to pay; Plaintiff did not prove lawful termination at the hearing.

Holdings

1. A landlord must terminate the tenancy in the manner required by law, including providing actual notice of termination, before bringing an ejectment action; continued possession after a lawful termination is a necessary predicate to the action.
2. Because 9 V.S.A. § 4467 does not expressly require a notice of termination for nonpayment to state the tenant's right to cure, the notice need not include that information.
3. When rent is paid monthly, "rental period" means the specific period for which a rent payment is owed, such as the month, rather than the entire term of the lease.
4. To obtain an order requiring a tenant to pay rent into court, a landlord must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the tenant remains in possession after termination of the lease, is obligated to pay rent, and has failed to pay it.
5. The landlord did not prove lawful termination because the termination notice stated cure and rent amounts based on a rent increase whose compliance with LIHTC limitations was not established; the potentially inaccurate cure amount materially invalidated the notice.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the complaint should be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the lease was allegedly not properly terminated.
2. Whether a notice of termination for nonpayment must state the tenant's right to cure.
3. Whether the term "rental period" in Vermont's rent-increase statute refers to the lease term or the period for which a particular rent payment is owed.
4. What the landlord must prove to obtain an order requiring rent to be paid into court under 12 V.S.A. § 4853a.
5. Whether the landlord proved that the tenancy was lawfully terminated when the termination notice calculated the cure amount using a rent increase whose LIHTC authorization was not established.

Disposition

other