## Facts

- A landlord leased commercial real estate in Norfolk, Virginia, to a tenant for a 15-year term beginning January 1, 1928.
- When the term began, prior tenants remained in possession of some or all of the premises.
- The landlord refused to take legal or other action to remove the holdover occupants.
- The tenant sued for damages, alleging the lease implied a duty on the landlord to have the premises open for entry and to place the tenant in possession on the first day of the term.
- The written lease contained no express covenant requiring delivery of possession or quiet enjoyment.

## Issues

1. Whether, absent an express covenant, a landlord must deliver actual physical possession to the tenant at the beginning of the lease term.
2. Whether a landlord breaches the lease by failing to remove holdover tenants when the new tenant has the legal right to possession.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia affirmed the trial court’s judgment for the landlord.
- The court adopted the American rule: absent an express covenant, the landlord has no duty to deliver actual possession at the start of the term.
- The tenant receives the legal right to possession under the lease and must use available legal remedies to remove wrongful occupants.

## Legal Principles

- Under the American rule, a lease conveys the legal right to possession; it does not imply a covenant that the landlord will put the tenant in actual possession at the beginning of the term.
- An implied covenant of quiet enjoyment protects against interference by the landlord, those claiming through the landlord, or a title paramount, but not against wrongful acts of strangers such as holdover tenants.
- When the tenant is entitled to possession, statutory summary proceedings (including unlawful detainer) provide a remedy to oust holdover occupants.
- Any expectation that a landlord will remove holdovers is not, without an express promise, a legally enforceable duty.

## Conclusion

The court held that, without an express lease provision requiring delivery of actual possession, the landlord satisfies the lease by transferring the legal right to possession, leaving the tenant to remove holdover occupants through statutory remedies.


Hannan v. Dusch, 154 Va. 356, 153 S.E. 824 (Va. 1930)