537.420. If any tenant, for life or years, shall commit waste during his estate or term, of anything belonging to the tenement so held, without special license in writing so to do, he shall be subject to a civil action for such waste, and shall lose the thing wasted and pay treble the amount at which the waste shall be assessed.
(RSMo 1939 § 1939 § 3003)Prior revisions: 1929 § 2616; 1919 § 6910; 1909 § 7913
(1992) Where the parties have entered into a special landlord-tenant relationship, a tenancy for life or years, statute mandates the trebling of damages for waste without regard to whether the waste was committed wantonly. Greeson v. Ace Pipe Cleaning, Inc., 830 S.W.2d 444 (Mo. App. W.D.).
(2002) Presence of liquidated damages clause in lease was not a waiver of right to sue under section and did not constitute implied license for tenant to commit waste. Brizendine v. Conrad, 71 S.W.3d 587 (Mo.banc).
Missouri General Assembly