Renewal Reminder = Waiver of Landlord's Right to Renewal Notice

What Happened: A landlord sent an email to a restaurant tenant with the following message:

Reminder of increase and renewal

I just wanted to remind you that your first five-year lease agreement comes to an end on November 30, 2015. Please confirm that you want to continue with the lease. There is an increase of 3% each year starting in December, 2015 [sic] and the rent will be $4326 a month.

The landlord later tried to evict the tenant for failing to provide her notice that it was renewing. The tenant acknowledged that it didn’t provide the renewal notice required by the lease but claimed that the landlord had waived her right to receive timely notice of renewal, citing the reminder email as Exhibit A.

Ruling: The Washington, D.C., court agreed and refused to evict the tenant.

Reasoning: A landlord can waive its right to timely renewal notice by words or deeds. In this case, the renewal email and its use of the words “reminder,” “renewal,” “first,” “continue,” and “each year” were clear evidence of the landlord’s intent to waive the notification deadline in the lease and renew the lease for a second five-year term, the court concluded.

• SJ Enters., LLC v. Quander: 2019 D.C. App. LEXIS 187, 2019 WL 2134865 (May 2019)