In re the Treasurer of New York

183 Misc. 84, 48 N.Y.S.2d 154, 1944 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1909
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedApril 22, 1944
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 183 Misc. 84 (In re the Treasurer of New York) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Treasurer of New York, 183 Misc. 84, 48 N.Y.S.2d 154, 1944 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1909 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1944).

Opinion

Colden, J.

This is an application by the Treasurer of the City of New York, as receiver, for an order, fixing, approving and allowing an occupational rent for premises 233-243 Van Sinderen Avenue in the borough of Brooklyn, city of New York, now owned, used and occupied by, the respondent, Gold Seal Iron Works, Inc., and directing said occupant thereof to pay such occupational rent to the receiver, and in default thereof to forthwith surrender to the receiver the possession of said premises.

On September 13, 1939, pursuant to sections 415(1)-7.0 to 415(l)-56.0 of title A of chapter 17 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York (L. 1937, ch. 929, as amd.), certain transfers of tax liens were sold to the City of New York, which tax liens affected the real property described in this proceeding. They included the unpaid real estate taxes, assessments and water rents for the years 1929 to 1937, inclusive, together with the penalties thereon, which liens amount in the aggregate to the sum of $8,432.11, with interest, and thereafter the said transfers of tax liens were delivered to the City of New York, which is now the owner and holder thereof. In addition to the items contained in the transfers of tax liens there are arrears of taxes, assessments and water rents charged against the premises of a sum aggregating $3,557.64, so that the total amount of arrears now owing on the premises is $11,989.75 and interest, which represents unpaid taxes, assessments and water rents for a period of fifteen years, during which period respondent has been the owner of and in possession of the premises.

On January 13, 1944, the City of New York, pursuant to section 415(1)-53.3 of the Administrative Code (L. 1941, eh. 668) applied, ex parte, to the Supreme Court, Kings County, for the appointment of the Treasurer of the City of New York as receiver, which application was granted. Said order appointed the Treasurer receiver for the benefit of the City of New York of all the rents, issues and profits now due and unpaid or to become due and unpaid issuing out of the real estate described in this proceeding and ordered the receiver to demand, collect, sue for and receive from the tenants in [86]*86possession of the premises or any portion thereof or any other persons liable therefor, all of the rents thereof, and further ordered that the tenants in possession of the premises or such other persons as may be in possession thereof, be directed to attorn to the said receiver and, until further order of this court, to pay over to the said receiver all the rents of the said premises noAV due and unpaid or hereafter to become due and unpaid; and it was further ordered that all persons now or hereafter in possession of said premises, or any part thereof, forthwith surrender such possession to the said receiver upon his demand.

The present total of assessed valuation of the property is $17,200, and, according to the affidavit submitted by the respondent, the premises Avere purchased in 1926 for a price in excess of $30,000, and have been occupied solely and exclusively by the oAvner and respondent herein since that time. Thus, the present arrears amount to more than one third of the original perchase price of the property and about 70% of the present assessed valuation.

The validity and constitutionality of the statute under which this proceeding is brought were sustained in City of New York (801-815 E. New York Ave.) (290 N. Y. 236).

The respondent, however, opposes the application and says, “ There is no authority for this application by the City of New York to fix occupational rent against the owner in possession under the authority of the case of Holmes v. Gravenhorst (263 N. Y. 148).”

In that case, the action being one to foreclose a mortgage upon a dwelling house owned and occupied by the mortgagor, the mortgage contained the following clause: “ That the holder of said mortgage, in any action to foreclose it, shall be entitled (without notice and without regard to the adequacy of any security for the debt) to the appointment of a receiver of the rents and profits of said premises.’ ”

In its decision in that case the court said: The appellate division * • * * has certified to us the question involved in the folloAving language: ‘ On the facts shown in the record, was the receiver entitled to an order fixing the occupational rent of the mortgagor-owner in the absence of facts indicating that the motion should have been denied as a matter of discretion? ’ We have, therefore, squarely presented the question as to whether, upon the appointment of a receiver in an action brought to foreclose a mortgage containing the covenant heretofore quoted, a mortgagor-OAyner may be required to pay rent to the receiver or be evicted from the premises prior to a sale under a judgment of foreclosure and sale.”

[87]*87Said the court further: “ Under the law governing the relation of mortgagor and mortgagee of real property as now firmly established in this State, a mortgagee himself has no right of possession by virtue of a mortgage pending its foreclosure, and he does not acquire such a right by applying for and having appointed a receiver, except in those cases where the right grows out of facts extrinsic to the mortgage contract or where there is a clause in the mortgage expressly giving him that right. The right of possession given to a receiver is incidental to the purpose for which the receiver is appointed, namely, the collection of the rents and profits, and if there be no rents and profits because actual possession is in one having the right of possession inherent in his ownership, no right of possession exists which may be conferred upon a receiver.”

But said the court also: “ It should be borne in mind that we are here dealing with the question of the rights and authority of a receiver appointed under an agreement contained in the mortgage, a contract right, and not with those of a receiver appointed under the general eqidty jurisdiction of the court to maintain and preserve the property and income therefrom pending a foreclosure. In the case at bar the question for determination is what rights accrued under the agreement of the parties contained in the mortgage. In the other case, the question always is what jurisdiction a court of equity has under facts extrinsic to the mortgage; for instance, is the mortgagor committing waste or is the appointment of a receiver necessary to preserve the premises? ” (Italics supplied.)

Thus, the decision in Holmes v. Gravenhorst (supra) is limited precisely to the agreement which was made between the mortgagor and the mortgagee and expressly excludes from its application the powers of a receiver appointed and acting under the general equity jurisdiction of this court.

A question almost precisely similar to the one here presented arose in the case of City of Long Beach v. Gold (171 Misc. 658) in which the City of Long Beach, foreclosing tax liens upon premises owned and occupied by the defendants Gold, procured the appointment of a receiver and moved for an order fixing reasonable occupational rent to be paid by the said defendants. In that case, as in this, the owners of the equity relied upon the authority of Holmes v. Gravenhorst (supra) and resisted the application. Said the court: “ A receiver appointed under * * * statute is, obviously, in a different position from a receiver whose appointment and whose rights, when appointed, depend upon the contract between the parties.

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Related

Roosevelt Raceway, Inc. v. Bedell
24 Misc. 2d 374 (New York Supreme Court, 1960)
Isaacs v. Berson
268 A.D. 796 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1944)

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Bluebook (online)
183 Misc. 84, 48 N.Y.S.2d 154, 1944 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1909, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-treasurer-of-new-york-nysupct-1944.