Kingstown Mobile Home Park v. Strashnick, 774 A.2d 847 (2001)

Citation: Kingstown Mobile Home Park v. Strashnick, 774 A.2d 847 (2001)
Parent Document: Kingstown Mobile Home Park v. Strashnick, 774 A.2d 847 (2001)
Jurisdiction: Rhode Island (state)
Effective Date: 2001-06-26
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1515698/kingstown-mobile-home-park-v-st... ↗

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Krzak argued on appeal, as she did in her original complaint, that "§ 32-44-2(a) should not bar evictions for holding over if a tenant does not sign a lease and does not demand one." Although Krzak maintained throughout her appeal that "nothing in the record suggests that tenant ever asked for [a lease]," the evidence clearly contradicted this statement. On cross-examination, Krzak admitted that she offered Strashnick an initial limited lease for a period of four months, in accordance with her convention of having all leases run from January to December 31. Asked whether "at that time, Mr. Strashnick requested that [she] give him a lease of at least one year," Krzak responded: "He can't have it. * * * He wanted to, but he cannot have it." Clearly Krzak violated the statute and deprived Strashnick of the opportunity to obtain the one-year lease to which he was entitled. Krzak's counsel suggested for the first time at oral argument that one-year leases were held available at the mobile home park's office each January. Our thorough review of the transcript revealed that no evidence of this purported fact was submitted to the Superior Court justice, and therefore the issue of whether this would have been sufficient in light of the mandate of § 31-44-7(1)(xiv) that a landlord "[p]rovide a written lease of not less than one year" was not presented to the trial justice. In sum, we hold that unless one or more of the six conditions set forth in § 32-44-2(a) applied, Krzak could not evict Strashnick from the mobile home park without violating the terms of the mobile home act. Counterclaims

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