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INTERNAL PROTOTYPE — NOT LEGAL ADVICE — DO NOT SEND

Boston Housing Authority v. Hemingway, 293 N.E.2d 831 (1973)

Citation
Boston Housing Authority v. Hemingway, 293 N.E.2d 831 (1973)
Parent Document
Boston Housing Authority v. Hemingway, 293 N.E.2d 831 (1973)
Jurisdiction
Massachusetts (state)
Effective Date
1973-03-05

Other Sections in This Document (181)

Full Text

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This judicial willingness to expand the number of exceptions to the independent covenants rule in appropriate cases by treating the lease more as a contract than as a property conveyance was supported by our decision in Charles E. Burt, Inc. v. Seven Grand Corp. 340 Mass. 124. We held in the Burt case that the tenant may get damages in a suit for equitable relief despite its failure to abandon the premises. We noted that damages without abandonment are possible in those cases where the breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment "goes to the essence" of the contract. P. 129. We decided that the tenant was entitled to damages in the Burt case because "[s]uch relief is more nearly adequate than the incomplete and hazardous remedy at law which requires that the lessee (a) determine at its peril that the circumstances amount to a constructive eviction, and (b) vacate the demised premises, possibly at some expense, while remaining subject to the risk that a court may decide that the lessor's breaches do not go to the essence of the lessor's obligation." The Burt case, supra, 129-130.