Clairton Corp. v. Geo-Con, Inc.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania
635 A.2d 1058 (1993)
After a two-year commercial lease between Clairton (plaintiff) and Geo-Con (defendant) expired, the parties began negotiating a new lease under which Geo-Con would rent additional space, but never reached a final agreement; Geo-Con, with Clairton's consent, simply continued in possession paying the same rent as before, then vacated and stopped paying after seven months. Clairton sued, claiming the holdover created a full year-to-year tenancy obligating Geo-Con for a complete year; the trial court instead found a month-to-month tenancy had formed.
Whether, if a tenant holds over after the expiration of a lease with no different arrangement made, but the parties are negotiating a new lease with different terms, the parties' conduct creates a month-to-month tenancy.