Tenant's Long-Term Payment of Increased Rent Modified Lease

A lease required the tenant to pay annual rent of $1,000. The owner sent the tenant statements for “lease payment due of $1,250.” The tenant didn't challenge the increased rent and paid that amount without objection. But when the owner later sued to evict the tenant on unrelated grounds, the tenant argued that it had been overpaying its rent and demanded a credit of $5,750.

A Mississippi appeals court ruled that the tenant's continued payment of the increased rent modified the lease. The court noted that there was no written agreement explicitly increasing the tenant's rent. But the owner's written statements increasing the rent, and the tenant's payment of that increased rent without objection—for over 23 years—must be viewed as a modification of the lease, the court reasoned [Farm Svcs., Inc. v. Oktibbeha Cty. Bd. of Supervisors].