17 & 19 East 95th Street, Inc. v. Bernstein

114 Misc. 513
CourtCity of New York Municipal Court
DecidedFebruary 15, 1921
StatusPublished

This text of 114 Misc. 513 (17 & 19 East 95th Street, Inc. v. Bernstein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering City of New York Municipal Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
17 & 19 East 95th Street, Inc. v. Bernstein, 114 Misc. 513 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1921).

Opinion

Lauer, J.

This is a motion made by the defendant for judgment on the pleadings and on certain stipulations in regard to the facts agreed to by the parties. It appears that this action is 'brought by the plaintiff as owner of the building 17-19 East Ninety-fifth street to recover the value of the use and occupation of an apartment therein occupied by the defendant. The [514]*514defendant is in possession of the premises holding over after the expiration of a term stated in a lease dated April 18, 1919, made by the plaintiff’s grantor, the estate of W. H. Langley. The term of the lease was for one year commencing October 1, 1919, and ending September 30, 1920. The rental stated in the lease was the annual sum of $720, payable in equal monthly installments of $60. The action was brought to recover the sum of $266.67 for the period from October 1, 1920, to November 30, 1920, during all of which time the defendant was in possession. According to the stipulation the defendant tendered to the plaintiff the sum of $60 in the month of October, 1920, and $60 in the month of November, 1920, the same rent stated according to the terms of the lease which expired September 30, 1920. The plaintiff refused to accept these tenders, claiming them to be insufficient, and the defendant has deposited the sum of $120 in court to keep good his tender before suit.

The defendant claims that by reason of the commencement of the present action for use and occupation he is recognized by the landlord as a hold-over tenant and therefore the terms of the original lease under which the defendant held up' to September 30, 1920, wherein he was to pay the monthly rental of sixty dollars, is renewed for a further period of a year upon me same terms and that his plea of tender before suit, kept good, by the payment of the tender into court, constitutes a complete defense entitling him to judgment.

Both parties agree that prior to the enactment of the so-called housing laws of 1920, the proposition of law was well established that where a tenant held over under a written lease for a year or longer the landlord had his election of two, and only two, alternatives : first, either /to regard the tenant holding over [515]*515as a trespasser, or, secondly, to regard him as a tenant for another year under the same terms and conditions as those stated in the lease just expired. Stern & Co. v. Avedon & Co., Inc., 111 Misc. Rep. 372; Stevens v. City of New York, 111 App. Div. 562; Kennedy v. City of New York, 196 N. Y. 19, 23; Haynes v. Aldrich, 133 id. 287; Schuyler v. Smith, 51 id. 308.

It may be that a tenant holding over after notice by the landlord of his intention to increase the rent will be regarded as a lessee for another year under the increased rent (Stern & Co. v. Avedon & Co., Inc., supra; Despard v. Walbridge, 15 N. Y. 374, 375) but this state of facts would be regarded as the making of a new contract rather than that of holding over. Stern & Co. v. Avedon & Co., Inc., supra. That is, the foundation for an implied contract would have been laid and that would be in law a virtual assent by the tenant to the terms prescribed in the notice of the landlord. Despard v. Walbridge, supra.

The question of whether a landlord serving a proper notice can impose liability upon a hold-over for a greater rental than that reserved in the lease, the term of which had expired, where the tenant dissents from the increase mentioned in the landlord’s notice, although referred to in counsel’s brief, is not directly involved in the present case. This seems to be the effect of the dictum of the justice who decided the case of Machson v. Katz, N. Y. L. J., Jan. 11, 1921. It may be observed that the authority for the annunciation of that rule is the case of Lasher v. Heist, 126 Ill. App. 82. A reference to that case indicates that it is based upon the law as laid down in the earlier case of Hunt v. Bailey, 39 Mo. 257, in which the following is stated as the principle: If the tenant manifests his dissent from the terms proposed for increased rent, then no privity of contract [516]*516will "be created for the increased rent; and if he holds over, it will he considered on the terms of the lease by which he originally gained possession. In such case, the remedy of the landlord would 'be ousting the tenant from the possession, under the statute, if he objected to a continuance of the occupation according to the terms and conditions of the lease.”

Of course, under the present statute in such a case as the present one, the landlord would not be entitled to oust the tenant from the possession, and this alternative remedy referred to does not presently exist in such a case as this.

Referring to this case of Hunt v. Bailey, the court in the case of Moore v. Harter, 67 Ohio St. 250, at page 254, says: “ The better opinion and current of authority seem to be the other way,” citing Roberts v. Hayward, 3 Car. & P. 432; Brinkley v. Walcott, 10 Heisk. (Tenn.) 22; Reithman v. Brandenburg, 7 Colo. 480; Griffin v. Kinsley, 75 Ill. 411. It was further said in the opinion in the case of Moore v. Harter, supra: “ The tenant’s dissent from the terms proposed by the landlord amounts to nothing unless the latter accepts it, because the presumption is that one holding over, after notice from the landlord that a change of terms would be required, is presumed to do so on the terms proposed by the landlord. Otherwise he would put himself in the wrong and would be liable to be treated as a trespasser.”

The defendant contends, and in this respect I think his contention is well founded, that the commencement of an action to recover for use and occupation is an election on the part of the landlord to regard the tenant as a tenant and not as a trespasser. Conrow v. Little, 115 N. Y. 394; Stevens v. City of New York, supra. This election having been made it must be regarded that the tenant has been accepted as such [517]*517and that election is conclusive upon both parties. “Neither can then claim that the tenant is a trespasser.” Stern & Co. v. Avedon & Co., Inc., supra.

There is no material dispute between the parties up to this point. The plaintiff, however, claims that the present action for use and occupation is one which is maintainable under the provisions of chapter 944 of the Laws of 1920 and that that statute impliedly if not expressly justifies a landlord in maintaining an action against a tenant to recover the reasonable rental value of premises occupied by a tenant during the time the tenant is holding over.

Prior to the' enactment of the so-called housing laws of 1920 a landlord could oust a tenant who held over after the expiration of the term of his lease either by an action in ejectment or by summary proceedings of dispossession. The remedy of a summary proceeding to remove a tenant from premises used for dwelling purposes in the city of New York! is temporarily, until November, 1922, taken away from the landlord. Laws of 1920, chaps. 942, 947.

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Related

Despard v. . Walbridge
15 N.Y. 374 (New York Court of Appeals, 1857)
Conrow v. . Little
22 N.E. 346 (New York Court of Appeals, 1889)
Kennedy v. . City of New York
89 N.E. 360 (New York Court of Appeals, 1909)
Guttag v. Shatzkin
194 A.D. 509 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1920)
Reithman v. Brandenburg
7 Colo. 480 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1884)
Griffin v. Knisely
75 Ill. 411 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1874)
Lasher v. Heist
126 Ill. App. 82 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1906)
Hunt v. Bailey
39 Mo. 257 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1866)

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Bluebook (online)
114 Misc. 513, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/17-19-east-95th-street-inc-v-bernstein-nynyccityct-1921.