Green v. Sumner Properites, LLC.: Student Collects Damages from Landlord

New Hampshire's highest court has considered whether a college student could collect damages from a landlord who allegedly misrepresented the number of bedrooms the student would be leasing from him.

College student Michael Green ("Tenant") and his roommate considered renting an apartment owned by Sumner Properties, LLC ("Landlord"). The Landlord's representative showed the Tenant the apartment, which contained two bedrooms and a kitchen. The Tenant stated he was shown both bedrooms in the apartment and the leasing representative also allegedly said in a joking manner that if the Tenant got to the apartment first he could have the larger bedroom.

The Tenant and his roommate entered into a lease for apartment 21, which is what they thought the Landlord's representative had shown to the Tenant. The lease amount was $3500, and required half to be paid at the beginning of the first semester and the remainder to be paid at the beginning of the second semester. So, the Tenant owed a total amount of $1750 under the lease.

When the Tenant and his roommate arrived at the beginning of the school year, they discovered another individual living in one of the apartment’s bedrooms. After the Tenant complained, the Landlord told him that they had only rented a single bedroom apartment (i.e., apartment 21), and their single bedroom apartment shared a kitchen with apartment 22. At this time, the apartment had numbers posted on the apartment doors, which the Tenant claimed had not been there when he was shown the apartment. The Tenant and his roommate were forced to share a bedroom for the semester, after which the Tenant moved into a new apartment where he would have his own bedroom.

The Tenant filed a small claims action against the Landlord, claiming the Landlord had misrepresented the number of bedrooms in the apartment. The Tenant sought damages of $875, or half of the first semester's rent. The court ruled in favor of the Tenant and awarded him $875. The Landlord appealed.

The Supreme Court of New Hampshire affirmed the award in favor of the Tenant. The Landlord first challenged the trial court's ruling on the basis that the evidence did not support such a ruling. The court found that the evidence supported the Tenant's misrepresentation allegations, as the Tenant's evidence demonstrated that the Landlord's representative had shown the Tennant both bedrooms and joked with the Tenant that he could have the larger bedroom if he got to the apartment first. Thus, the court rejected the Landlord's challenge to the evidence.

Next, the court considered the Landlord's argument that the Tenant was not entitled to recover damages because, even if he had been deceived while entering into the lease, he had ratified the lease by living on the premises. The court stated that while ratification may deprive a party of contractual remedies, here the Tenant was seeking tort damages for misrepresentation. Under tort law, the party has the choice of rescinding the agreement or continuing with the agreement and seeking damages from the offending party. Thus, the court found that the Tenant could collect damages even though he had remained on the premises and so the trial court's award to the Tenant was affirmed.

Green v. Sumner Properites, LLC., 873 A.2d 497 (N.H. 2005).

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