Herald Towers LLC v. Perry

190 Misc. 2d 500, 738 N.Y.S.2d 814, 2001 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 964
CourtCivil Court of the City of New York
DecidedDecember 19, 2001
StatusPublished

This text of 190 Misc. 2d 500 (Herald Towers LLC v. Perry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Civil Court of the City of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Herald Towers LLC v. Perry, 190 Misc. 2d 500, 738 N.Y.S.2d 814, 2001 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 964 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Laurie L. Lau, J.

Petitioner commenced this holdover summary proceeding to recover possession of apartment A15-14, located at 50 West 34th Street, also known as 1282 Broadway, in Manhattan (the Apartment), after expiration of a notice of termination, alleging that respondent had violated a substantial obligation of his [501]*501tenancy by “consistently, chronically and unjustifiably exhibit-ting] a pattern of late payment of rent, refusing to pay rent when due, and/or compelí[ing] the landlord to commence numerous proceedings in the New York City Housing Court to collect rent.” Respondent has interposed a written answer asserting a general denial, and affirmative defenses of failure of the petition to state a cause of action for failing to plead service of a notice to cure, and of acceptance of rent. Respondent now moves to dismiss this proceeding based upon the failure to serve a notice to cure; petitioner cross-moves for summary judgment on the grounds that no notice to cure is necessary and that respondent asserts no viable defense to this proceeding.

The central issue to each party’s motion is whether, in a holdover proceeding alleging violation of a substantial obligation of tenancy through the chronic nonpayment of rent, the petitioner is required to plead and prove service of a notice to cure. It is undisputed that no notice to cure was served; the notice of termination asserts that “it has been determined that a breach of a substantial obligation of tenancy for the chronic late and/or nonpayment of rent is not subject to cure as a matter of law and accordingly this is the only Notice you will receive.” Respondent, in the motion-in-chief, urges that petitioner misapprehends the law, and that a notice to cure must be served pursuant to both the Rent Stabilization Code ([RSC] 9 NYCRR parts 2520-2530) and respondent’s lease.

The RSC provides, in pertinent part, that:

“Without the approval of the DHCR, an action or proceeding to recover possession of any housing accommodation may only be commenced after service of the notice required by section 2524.2 of this Part [Termination Notices], upon one or more of the following grounds, wherein wrongful acts of the tenant are established as follows:
“(a) The tenant is violating a substantial obligation of his or her tenancy other than the obligation to surrender possession of such housing accommodation, and has failed to cure such violation after written notice by the owner that the violations cease within 10 days; or the tenant has willfully violated such an obligation inflicting serious and substantial injury upon the owner within the three month period immediately prior to the commencement of the proceeding.” (RSC § 2524.3).

[502]*502Respondent’s lease provides, at paragraph 17, that:

“[y]ou default under the Lease if You act in any of the following ways: (a) You fail to carry out any agreement or provision of this Lease * * * If You do default in any one of these ways, other than a default in the agreement to pay rent, Owner may serve You with a written notice to stop or correct the specified default within 10 days. You must then either stop or correct the default within 10 days, or, if You need more than 10 days, You must begin to correct the default within 10 days and continue to do all that is necessary to correct the default as soon as possible.”

Respondent asserts that the regulatory and lease provisions mandate service of a notice to cure prior to termination of respondent’s tenancy. Respondent correctly anticipates petitioner’s reliance on Adam’s Tower Ltd. Partnership v Richter (186 Misc 2d 620 [App Term, 1st Dept 2000]), and upon 3363 Sedgwick v Medina (187 Misc 2d 421 [App Term, 1st Dept 2000]). Petitioner’s position rests heavily upon the holding in Adam’s Tower, as petitioner asserts that “[t]he Adam’s Tower decision not only relieves petitioner from the obligation to serve a notice to cure, but requires that this Court decline to apply the post judgment cure of RPAPL § 753(4) if summary judgment is appropriately rendered against respondent.”

In Adam’s Tower, the court affirmed:

“that part of the order holding that a notice to cure was not required because the cumulative pattern of tenants’ course of conduct was incapable of ‘cure’ within ten days (National Shoes v Annex Camera & Elecs., 114 Misc 2d 751). The fact that a lease or statute provides time for a cure ‘does not necessarily imply that a means or method to cure must exist in every case’ (National Shoes v Annex Camera & Elecs., [114 Misc 2d at 752])” (Adam’s Tower, 186 Misc 2d at 622).

In 3363 Sedgwick, the court held that “[s]ervice of a formal notice to cure was not a sine qua non of the landlord’s maintenance of this summary holdover proceeding based upon allegations that the tenant’s history of chronic rent defaults constituted a violation of a substantial obligation of the tenancy, since ‘the cumulative pattern of [tenant’s] course of conduct was incapable of “cure” within ten days’ (Adam’s Tower Ltd. Partnership v Richter, 186 Misc 2d 620, 622 [App Term, [503]*5031st Dept] * * *)” (3363 Sedgwick, 187 Misc 2d at 421-422). Seminal to both these decisions is the court’s determination that 10 days provides insufficient time to effect a cure of chronic nonpayment of rent.

There has been considerable litigation concerning the differing remedies and standards of proof in those chronic nonpayment holdovers styled as nuisance proceedings and those alleging violations of substantial obligations of tenancy and the intermingling of those standards. A petitioner seeking to recapture an apartment because of chronic nonpayment of rent may choose to bring a proceeding based upon a theory that the chronic nonpayment of rent constitutes either a violation of a substantial obligation of tenancy or that chronic nonpayment of rent constitutes a nuisance. The RSC also permits, without the service of a notice to cure, service of a termination notice on the ground that the “tenant has willfully violated such an obligation inflicting serious and substantial injury upon the owner within the three-month period immediately prior to the commencement of the proceeding” (RSC § 2524.3 [a]). This ground plays no part in this proceeding as it is neither addressed by the notice of termination nor by the petition.

To establish that chronic nonpayment of rent constitutes a nuisance, the petitioner must demonstrate that “it was compelled to bring numerous nonpayment proceedings within a relatively short period and that the tenant’s nonpayment was willful, unjustified, without explanation, or accompanied by an intent to harass the landlord” (25th Realty Assoc. v Griggs, 150 AD2d 155, 156 [1st Dept 1989] [emphasis supplied]). If the landlord succeeds in meeting this significant burden of proof, upon entry of judgment, respondent is not entitled to any opportunity to cure (Sharp v Norwood, 223 AD2d 6, 11 [1st Dept], lv granted 231 AD2d 974 [1st Dept 1996], affd 89 NY2d 1068 [1997], rearg denied 90 NY2d 889 [1997] [holding that “a nuisance found to be caused by chronic late payment of rent cannot be cured”]). By contrast, a landlord seeking to establish that a tenant’s chronic nonpayment of rent constitutes a violation of a substantial obligation of tenancy faces a different and less stringent burden of proof.

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Related

Sharp v. Norwood
681 N.E.2d 1280 (New York Court of Appeals, 1997)
Park Summit Realty Corp. v. Frank
439 N.E.2d 358 (New York Court of Appeals, 1982)
Century Operating Corp. v. Popolizio
458 N.E.2d 805 (New York Court of Appeals, 1983)
25th Realty Associates v. Griggs
150 A.D.2d 155 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1989)
Minick v. Park
217 A.D.2d 489 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1995)
Sharp v. Norwood
223 A.D.2d 6 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1996)
Rima 106, L.P. v. Alvarez
257 A.D.2d 201 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1999)
Park Summit Realty Corp. v. Frank
107 Misc. 2d 318 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 1980)
National Shoes, Inc. v. Annex Camera & Electronics, Inc.
114 Misc. 2d 751 (Civil Court of the City of New York, 1982)
Semans Family Ltd. Partnership v. Kennedy
177 Misc. 2d 345 (Civil Court of the City of New York, 1998)
Marbar, Inc. v. Katz
183 Misc. 2d 219 (Civil Court of the City of New York, 2000)
Adam's Tower Ltd. Partnership v. Richter
186 Misc. 2d 620 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 2000)
3363 Sedgwick, L. L. C. v. Medina
187 Misc. 2d 421 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
190 Misc. 2d 500, 738 N.Y.S.2d 814, 2001 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 964, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/herald-towers-llc-v-perry-nycivct-2001.