Lease Didn't Permit Tenant to Send Notice by Regular Mail

A lease required notices to be sent “by certified or registered mail or by delivery to the premises.” The lease also gave the tenant an option to buy its space, which the tenant had to exercise by sending the owner a written option notice by Aug. 1. That date passed without the owner's getting the tenant's option notice. So on Dec. 7, the owner asked the tenant if it wanted to sign a new lease for the space. The tenant responded that it had sent the owner its option notice by regular mail before Aug. 1, so the tenant intended to buy—not rent—its space. The owner denied getting that notice and refused to let the tenant buy the space. After the lease expired, the owner tried to evict the tenant. But the tenant argued that its option notice was properly sent because the term “delivery” in the lease's notice clause was ambiguous and should be interpreted to allow notice by regular mail.

An Ohio appeals court ruled that the notice clause wasn't ambiguous and didn't permit the tenant to send its option notice by regular mail. So the tenant didn't properly exercise its option. Looking at the notice clause as a whole, it was clear that the parties intended that mailed notices be sent by certified or registered mail, said the court. To interpret the term “delivery” to permit notice by regular mail would “render meaningless the portion of the provision specifically requiring the parties to give notice via certified or registered mail,” the court added [Molnar v. Castle Bail Bonds, Inc.].