Judge Michael Pinckney
Landlord served a 10-day notice to cure, and a subsequent 10-day notice to terminate in this holdover action, arguing tenant was violating a substantial obligation of her tenancy by refusing to pay electrical charges under paragraph 6 of the lease agreement. Tenant contended paragraph 6 of the original lease, and all renewal leases thereafter, never created an obligation for her to pay for submetered electricity, thus there was no substantial breach of a lease obligation. The court noted while it was undisputed landlord submetered, it stated the order granting landlord permission to submeter did not amend paragraph 6 or any other paragraph of the lease to create an obligation for the tenant to pay electric charges to landlord. It found the spaces in the lease and renewal leases calling for any obligation to pay for submetered electricity were “either left blank, marked n/a or marked 0,” indicating that tenant had no obligation to pay same. Therefore, the court concluded given the facts presented here, landlord could not now claim breach of a substantial obligation of the tenancy that was never formally created between the parties. Hence, tenant’s motion for summary judgment was granted.
