Landlord Trumps Up Minor Lease Infractions as Excuse to Get Rid of Tenant

What Happened: A landlord who had just bought the property and was eager to lease it for a higher rent approached the current gas station tenant about a potential buyout. The negotiations proved unsuccessful. Less than three months later, the landlord tried to evict the tenant for unpaid rent and damaging the property, but the court dismissed the case. Undeterred, the landlord revised the eviction complaint and accused the tenant of a laundry list of lease violations, including failure to pay the water bills and “pestering” other tenants by turning off the water. The court again ruled against the landlord.

Ruling: The Tennessee appeals court tossed the appeal.  

Reasoning: The lower court acted reasonably in finding that the landlord failed to prove that the tenant committed any material breaches of the lease. Ditto for its determination that the landlord’s testimony lacked credibility in certain aspects and that it trumped up what were really just minor issues over the water bill as a pretext to get the tenant out and enter into a more profitable lease with another prospect that it had already lined up.

• Southeast Diamond Jubilee Invs., LLC v. UMA Shiv, Inc., 2020 Tenn. App. LEXIS 539, 2020 WL 7024373