Landlord and Tenant

November 22, 2024

Bagels With a Side of Injunction

Recently in the news is a story about a bagel store in the West Village neighborhood in Manhattan which became an “internet sensation” and its resulting popularity is causing problems with its landlord. It seems that, according to the landlord, the store has been unable, or unwilling, to accommodate the large crowds seeking its bagels, and this has created lines out in the sidewalk and street, which the landlord has claimed is a violation of its lease.

The situation raises many legal questions, a discussion of which should be helpful to both commercial landlords and tenants who may find themselves in similar situations.

First, what happens in a legal sense once a landlord believes that a tenant is violating the terms of the lease? In general, most violations of a commercial lease will cause the landlord to issue a Notice to Cure. What this means is that the landlord, or their managing agent or attorney, will serve a Thirty Day Notice to Cure on the tenant. This document will formally notify the tenant that it is not in compliance with a material term of its lease, and that the tenant now has thirty days to cure the violation. In the case of Apollo Bagels, the landlord stated in its thirty-day notice that the lease was being violated in that business was being conducted outside of the premises, and that the lines of customers outside the store created a nuisance or unreasonable annoyance, another breach of the lease.

October 24, 2024

Eviction Action or Ejectment Action?

By Weiss & Weiss

Our firm is involved in many situations in which one party seeks to remove another party from property, such as a house, cooperative, or condominium unit. However, the situation underlying the attempted removal will often determine the correct legal method for effectuating said removal.

The two main legal remedies are an eviction action and an ejectment action. Keep in mind that there may be situations in which an experienced attorney needs to use his legal judgment to determine which type of action to bring. First, we will cover an eviction action.

Eviction actions are generally used in ordinary landlord-tenant matters. In most cases, there is a tenant who is renting property from the property owner, who is the landlord. There usually is a written lease, but not in all situations. There are generally two types of eviction actions. The first is a non-payment, in which the tenant has failed to pay her rent. The second is a holdover, in which the tenant’s lease has expired, or a situation in which the tenant never had a lease and has a month-to-month tenancy.

September 3, 2024

When is a Lease Renewal Not a Lease Renewal?

By Weiss & Weiss

Our firm often receives inquires regarding renewals of residential leases. As prior blog posts have discussed, in general, a tenant in New York has no legal right to an automatic renewal lease, unless the rental unit is subject to some type of rent regulation. Another exception may be where the lease itself contains a clause that allows either party to renew the lease upon proper notice to the other party. The notice period may be 30 or 60 days (or even a longer time length) prior to the current lease expiration, so it is important for experienced counsel to review residential leases to ensure that, if a party wishes to renew, proper notice is timely sent to the other party under the lease terms.

However, it is also possible that the renewal clause itself may contain language which makes it unenforceable under New York law. The main example of this situation is where the “renewal” language is insufficiently specific as to the terms of a possible renewal. In general, a renewal clause must contain fairly exact terms as to the renewal lease term, as well as the amount of monthly rent to be paid under a renewal.

For example, if the renewal clause states that the tenant may renew this lease for an additional one year term at the same rent as the current lease, this would be enforceable, assuming that the tenant gives the proper notice as delineated in the lease for a renewal. Another enforceable example would be if the clause states that the lease can be renewed for an additional one year term at a 5% rent increase.

April 25, 2024

New York Eviction Law – Anti-Squatter Law Passed

By Weiss & Weiss

Recently in the news are stories about squatters taking over properties in New York. A recent blog post addressed the question of who is legally defined as a squatter, and how such a person could be evicted. The reason for this prior analysis is that, under then-current New York law, anyone occupying a property for at least thirty days was legally considered a “tenant” and had to be evicted through the Court system, most often in the local landlord-tenant Court.

Allowing such persons the same protections under the law as actual tenants (generally meaning those who had a lease and were paying rent to the owner) caused property owners serious problems. Under the prior law, a person could enter the premises without the consent of the owner, remain there for at least thirty days, and be considered a tenant for the purposes of eviction law. The owner would then have to hire experienced counsel to first issue a termination notice to the “tenant” who entered the property without his consent. After the expiration of the termination notice, if the occupant failed to vacate, an action in landlord-tenant Court would have to be commenced. Such an action, under the law, requires approximately two weeks prior notice to the “tenant.” Once in Court, a tenant is allowed an adjournment to obtain counsel if requested. Further adjournments, depending on the Court’s caseload, would be likely. As a result, the “tenant,” who entered without the owner’s consent, and was not paying rent to the owner, could stay for quite some time before the Court finally allowed an eviction to occur. The expenses of such legal proceedings, as well as the actual eviction conducted by the Marshal, would have to be paid by the owner, with little chance of recovering such sums from the squatter.

In light of these unjust outcomes, New York has now passed a new law that excludes squatters from the protections of the landlord-tenant laws. The law now defines a squatter as someone staying at a property without permission from the owner or a representative for the owner. It states that a squatter is not to be considered a tenant, and is not entitled to the legal protections of a tenant. As a result, if someone is illegally occupying property, the owner can contact the police to remove the squatter, rather than having to evict him through the Court system.

March 7, 2024

New York Eviction Law – Who is a Squatter?

By Weiss & Weiss

Recently in the news is a story about a couple who purchased a house in Queens after foreclosure. After they completed their purchase, they discovered a “squatter” living in the house. This story raises the question of who is legally defined as a squatter, and how can such a person be evicted?

First, let it be said that this is by no means an unusual course of events in New York. New York State laws, as well as many Judges in the landlord-tenant Courts, are notoriously “pro-tenant,” making it difficult to evict anyone, even squatters. Changes in New York Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law, which governs eviction procedure, have made it even more difficult to complete an eviction process. Even in situations in which the tenant has already been evicted, the tenant in many cases may seek a temporary injunction to allow him to move back into the premises, even if the eviction was done completely and lawfully.

The “squatter” in the Queens case turned out to be a handyman who claimed that the former owner of the premises gave him permission to reside at the premises. This moves him out of the category of squatter, as a squatter under the law is an individual who was never given consent, by any owner or former owner, to reside at the premises. Under the law, the handyman would be considered an alleged “licensee.” A licensee is someone who was allowed to live at the property by the owner without a lease or payment of rent, such as a girlfriend or boyfriend of the owner, or in this case, a handyman who claims to have permission from the former owner.

February 29, 2024

Lengthy Delays in Landlord-Tenant Proceedings – Will a Lawsuit Help?

By Weiss & Weiss

A recent case was filed in Supreme Court, Queens County by a group of corporations under the umbrella of the LeFrak Organization – one of the largest landlords in Queens. The lawsuit was brought as an Article 78 proceeding. An Article 78 proceeding is a lawsuit brought against a New York State official, or New York administrative agency, in which the plaintiff seeks to overturn a decision made by the official or agency on the grounds that it violated New York law.

The plaintiffs in this action seek reform of the handling of housing court cases in Queens County, in which long delays have been the rule, rather than the exception. New York housing courts have jurisdiction over eviction cases, which can be brought as summary proceedings. As the name “summary proceedings” suggests, these cases are meant to be brought in an expedited matter, and are supposed to be heard and resolved more quickly than actions brought in New York Supreme Court.

Under current New York law, housing court cases are required to be scheduled by the Court for an appearance in Court between three and eight days after a tenant responds to an eviction petition. If the tenant fails to respond, or fails to appear on the return date, the landlord-tenant court is supposed to issue a warrant of eviction, as well as a judgment in favor of the landlord.

February 21, 2024

Is there a Doctor in the Property?

By Weiss & Weiss

We have represented both landlords and tenants with respect to commercial leases. This post will examine the particulars to be considered when a doctor or medical practice is the tenant.

When evaluating a potential location, the proposed tenant should first determine whether the space is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). For instance, if the building has steps to its front entrance, is a ramp also installed to allow for wheelchair access? Is there an elevator and if so, is it also suitable to be used by patients with wheelchairs. Do the restroom facilities comply with ADA?

In the event that the space is not ADA compliant or requires adjustments to be suited for the installation of medical equipment, the parties may decide that the space will be built out before the tenant occupies. The parties will decide which one of them will be responsible for the build out costs and whether the tenant will be afforded a rent concession until such time as the space is completely constructed and ready for use, provided that the tenant exercises diligence in completing the construction, in accordance with building permits to be obtained and without the attachment of mechanics liens to the property.

November 16, 2023

Non-Payment Proceedings – Handling them the Right Way

By Weiss & Weiss

A recent article in the New York Post reports on the tragic story of a New York City landlord who claimed he was “under pressure” and had “a lot of issues” with his tenants, namely, that they were late paying rent. Unfortunately, the landlord responded to the situation by murdering his tenants, for which he has now been arrested and is in police custody.

Obviously, this is the wrong way for a landlord to handle tenants who have not paid their rent. What should the landlord have done instead? This blog post will discuss the proper manner in which non-paying tenants should be dealt.

Almost all tenants are required to pay rent when leasing property, such as an apartment or a house. To simplify, we will discuss residential, rather than commercial tenants, in this post.

February 24, 2023

New York Real Estate- The Tenant Becomes the Owner

By Weiss & Weiss

We have observed that the current inventory of houses available to purchase in the area serviced by our attorneys is low. In addition, many houses are rented. When the tenant and landlord have a good relationship, it is not unusual for the parties to agree that the tenant will buy the house from the owner. This post will address the legal issues involved in such a transaction whereby the tenant becomes the buyer and the landlord becomes the seller.

The first action that both parties should take is to engage the services of an experienced real estate attorney. Such a transaction would be considered “for sale by owner” , since neither party would be using the services of a real estate agent. As such, the attorneys will need to develop the particulars of the deal terms that will be included in the contract, such as the purchase price, downpayment amount, whether there are conditions such as a mortgage contingency, and deadlines for obtaining the mortgage commitment and closing. One concern is that the property may not appraise to at least the amount in the contract since it was not offered on the open market through a real estate agent who is familiar with appropriate pricing for the property. If the appraised value is lower than the purchase price, the buyer will not be able to obtain the mortgage in the anticipated amount needed to close.

A tenant occupying the property is already familiar with property condition and may not find it necessary to make repair requests. However, it may behoove the buyer to conduct due diligence and order a professional engineer’s inspection that will evaluate systems servicing the house such as the furnace, hot water heater and roof. These are elements that a tenant may not consider when renting a house, but a potential owner should evaluate before signing a contract. A proposed owner may also be concerned as to whether proper permits exist for improvements made to the house, while a tenant would not have considered such issue before moving in.

February 15, 2023

Eviction Judgments and Warrants in New York

By Weiss & Weiss

As the moratorium on eviction cases in New York State due to the COVID-19 pandemic fades into memory, our firm has resumed regular operations regarding landlord-tenant law. In general, this means eviction cases when a tenant may have stayed past the expiration of his lease (known as holdover actions), and those when a tenant is in violation of his lease, usually due to failure to pay rent (non-payment actions).

The question this blog post will address is what happens at the end of an eviction action that allows a tenant to be removed from the premises. In order to evict any tenant, the Court must issue a Judgment and a Warrant of Eviction. This can occur in several ways. The first is if the tenant fails to appear in Court, and the Court then issues a default judgment against the tenant. Conversely, if the tenant does appear, the case may eventually go to trial before the Court. If the landlord prevails at trial, again, the Court will allow entry of a Judgment against the tenant.

Finally, it is possible that the parties will agree to a settlement of the action. Usually, that is through the execution of a Stipulation of Settlement. In general, a Stipulation is a compromise of the case. The tenant may agree to leave the premises at a future date certain. For example, if the case is brought in early January, the attorneys for parties may agree that the tenant may vacate the property on or before March 31^st. There may be other aspects of the case that are addressed in a Stipulation of Settlement, such as any rent arrears due from the tenant. The agreement may allow the tenant to pay such arrears over time, and, assuming he complies with the payment terms, the landlord may withdraw his case when full payments are made pursuant to the Stipulation.