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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Alexander v. Theatre Realty Corporation, 70 S.W.2d 380 (1934)

Citation
Alexander v. Theatre Realty Corporation, 70 S.W.2d 380 (1934)
Parent Document
Alexander v. Theatre Realty Corporation, 70 S.W.2d 380 (1934)
Jurisdiction
Kentucky (state)
Effective Date
1934-03-23

Other Sections in This Document (72)

Full Text

1,242 chars
“In Kentucky, as at the common law, a lease for years is at once an estate and a contract and a liability for rent arises out of each of these ‘privities,’ so that the tenant is under an ‘implied covenant’ [to adopt the term used by Taylor in his work on ‘Landlord and Tenant,’ sec. 438] to pay rent, oven though there is no express covenant .to do so. In the absence of a controlling provision in the lease, the lessee may assign the leasehold, without the lessor’s consent, just as. he may transfer any other chattel. The assignment is good, as between assignor and assignee. But it does not follow that the lessee’s liability for rent is thereby terminated. There is still a privity of contract between him and hisr lessor, even though there was no express covenant to pay rent. He cannot relieve himself of the liability resulting from this relationship without the concurrence of the landlord. The only difference appears to be ■ that, where there is no covenant to pay rent, the lessor’s consent will be implied from mere acquiescence, as, for example, by the acceptance of rent from the assignee, whereas, if there is an express covenant, the landlord’s consent must be expressly given. Motch v. Portner, 237 Ky. 25, 34 S. W. [2d] 744.