Edgar A. Levy Leasing Co. v. Siegel

194 A.D. 482, 186 N.Y.S. 5, 1920 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6674
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedDecember 24, 1920
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 194 A.D. 482 (Edgar A. Levy Leasing Co. v. Siegel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edgar A. Levy Leasing Co. v. Siegel, 194 A.D. 482, 186 N.Y.S. 5, 1920 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6674 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1920).

Opinions

Latjghlin, J.:

The statement of the facts shows the existence of a shortage of housing accommodations resulting from the increase of the population and the practical suspension of building during the World War presenting a situation threatening danger to the public health, safety and order, and calling upon the Legislature for the enactment of any emergency legislation which it was competent for it to enact to relieve the crisis and to prevent its recurrence until the emergency passed. If it was within the power of the Legislature to enact these statutes, they must be sustained for it is not the province of the court to review the exercise of the legislative discretionary power. It is, however, proper to observe that there is no just ground for criticising this legislation provided it is constitutional. The subject-matter was thoroughly investigated and the Executive and the Legislature evidently attempted in devising and applying remedies to protect the interests of landlords as well as tenants so far as that could be done consistently with the public welfare.

Said chapter 136 is an act relating to defenses in an action based on unjust, unreasonable and oppressive agreements for rent of premises occupied for dwelling purposes in cities of the first class and in cities in a county adjoining a city of the first class. It recites that unjust, unreasonable and oppressive agreements had been and were being exacted from tenants under stress of prevailing conditions impairing the freedom of contract, resulting in a congestion of housing conditions seriously affecting and endangering the public welfare, health and morals, presenting a public emergency, and provides that it shall be a defense to an action for rent accruing under an agreement, that the rent is unjust and [494]*494unreasonable and that the agreement is oppressive; but hotels, lodging and rooming houses are excepted therefrom. Section 2 creates a presumption that the agreement is unjust, unreasonable and oppressive if the rent has been increased more than twenty-five per cent over that exacted one year before the agreement was made. Section 3 permits the plaintiff in such an action or in a separate action to plead, prove and recover a fair and reasonable rent. Section 4 provides that the act shall be in force until November 1, 1922.

Chapter 944 amends chapter 136 by re-enacting section 1, but omitting therefrom the exception relating to hotels, lodging and rooming houses, re-enacting section 2 as section 3 with an amendment applying the presumption to any increase of the rent over the year before, and re-enacting section 3 as section 4, and by adding seven other sections, six of which were wholly new, and by providing that the provisions of that chapter shall continue in force until November 1, 1922. The new provisions of the chapter provide in section 2 that vjhere the defense that the rent is unjust and unreasonable and that the agreement is oppressive is interposed, the plaintiff shall file a verified bill of particulars giving the gross income from the building, the number of apartments and of rooms in each, the number of stores, the rent received for each apartment or store for the preceding year, the consideration paid by the landlord for the building or, if he be a lessee, the rent agreed to be paid by him, the assessed valuation and taxes for the current year, the annual interest charge on any incumbrance, the operating expenses in reasonable detail and such other facts as the landlord claims affect his net income from the property, and that if he fails so to do, the complaint shall be dismissed. Section 5 provides that if the plaintiff in an action for rent or rental value recovers judgment by default and it is not satisfied within five days after entry, and service of a copy, the plaintiff shall be entitled to possession of the premises and to a warrant for possession. Section 6 provides that if in such an action the defendant interposes the defense of unfairness and unreasonableness of the amount demanded, he must at the time of answering, pay into court an amount equal to the rent paid during the preceding month or 'the amount agreed upon as the monthly rent by [495]*495the agreement under which he entered, and that if he fails so to do, the defense shall be stricken out, and that any deposit so made shall be applied on the judgment or otherwise as-justice requires, and if the plaintiff recovers, the judgment shall provide that if it be not fully satisfied from the deposit or otherwise within five days after entry and service of copy, plaintiff shall be entitled to possession and to a warrant therefor. Section 7 provides, among other things, that where the court has jurisdiction to vacate a judgment by default, it shall have power to open a default in such an action and to amend and correct process and to grant a new trial. Section 8 forbids a stay on appeal unless the defendant pays into court the amount of the judgment and monthly thereafter an amount equal to one month’s rental on the basis of the •judgment, and that such money shall be paid by the clerk to the plaintiff. Section 9 excepts hotels of 125 rooms or more, lodging and rooming houses occupied under a hiring of a week or less. Section 10, which amended section 4, excepts new buildings in the course of construction and those commenced thereafter. An explanatory note to this chapter by the joint legislative committee states that the twenty-five per cent increase clause in the former statute was omitted because generally misunderstood by the public and misapplied by the courts and that the new act puts the burden of proof with respect to the rent being just and reasonable on the landlord, if the rent has been raised, and that this was done because otherwise the tenant would be at a disadvantage and unable to meet the landlord’s claim with respect to expenses. It is also stated that the purpose of the act was to prevent a landlord .from obtaining an increase of rent without bringing an action and having the court determine whether the rent demanded is fair and reasonable and that the trial may be by the court or by a jury if either party so desires, and that the provision requiring the tenant to pay into court was to protect the landlord against irresponsible tenants, and that the landlord is fully protected by giving him possession if the amount recovered is not paid promptly, and that it was believed that the rights of both parties were fully protected by this act.

Chapter 945 was enacted on the same day as chapter [496]*496944. It amends subdivision 2-a of section 2231 of the Code of Civil Procedure which was added by chapter 139, enacted on April 1, 1920. Chapter 139 limited until November 1,1922, the remedy by summary proceedings in cities of the first class and in a city in an adjoining county, under a lease or tenancy for one year or less or under any future lease or tenancy of property occupied for dwelling purposes, to cases wherein the petitioner alleged and proved that the rent was no greater than the amount paid by the tenant for the month preceding the default or had not been increased more than twenty-five per cent over the rent one year before, but hotels, lodging and rooming houses were excepted. Chapter 945 further limited for the period therein specified the remedy by summary proceedings for the non-payment of rent by confining it to cases in which the petitioner alleged and proved that the.

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Bluebook (online)
194 A.D. 482, 186 N.Y.S. 5, 1920 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6674, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/edgar-a-levy-leasing-co-v-siegel-nyappdiv-1920.