A lessor sought to evict a lessee from a leased property after such did not pay the rent on time according to the lease agreement for an extended period of time.
The Court dismissed the eviction claim and held that where a lessee paid the rent, even overdue, there is no place for eviction. A material breach of a contract is, inter alia, a breach for which it can be assumed that a reasonable person would not have entered into that contract had such person foreseen the breach and its consequences. As long as it is a non-material breach of contract, the injured party is entitled to terminate the contract only after first giving the breaching party reasonable to cure. Here, an amendment to the lease agreement required the lessee to prepay for the lease for the entire rental year, but the lessee did not comply and paid periodic payments not in accordance with the agreed upon mechanism. Given the fact that the lessor did not make a claim regarding non-payment of rent or non-compliance with the terms of the agreements over the years and that the original practice between the parties was payment on a monthly basis, it is doubtful that the lessor considered receiving a periodic or monthly payment as a material breach’. The lessee paid the debt within 3 months from receipt of notice and therefore, as he cured the breach within a reasonable time, there is no reason to resort to the remedy of evicting the lessee from the leased property.