Ungar v. Schwartz

30 Misc. 2d 152, 213 N.Y.S.2d 993, 1961 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3091
CourtNassau County District Court
DecidedApril 11, 1961
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 30 Misc. 2d 152 (Ungar v. Schwartz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nassau County District Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ungar v. Schwartz, 30 Misc. 2d 152, 213 N.Y.S.2d 993, 1961 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3091 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1961).

Opinion

Bernard Tomson, J.

This action illustrates the murky relationship between the paramount landlord and his subtenant, which often follows the cancellation of the paramount lease. The complaint seeks to recover rent which the landlord urges is due because the defendant did not vacate the premises on a day set in a notice. The notice stated that the failure to vacate would result in a tenancy for a year at increased rental.

On September 9, 1960, the paramount landlord (the plaintiffs here), in a summary proceeding, recovered possession of the apartment house where the defendant was a subtenant but was not made a party to the summary proceeding. On September 16,1960, the paramount landlord instituted a summary proceeding against the subtenant, where the defendant was referred to as the tenant”. The petition further refers to an agreement between the “ tenant and petitioner’s predecessor in possession ”. The wherefore ” clause in the latter proceeding* is of interest. Wherefore your petitioner prays for a final order awarding, to the said landlord possession of said premises together with costs of this proceeding and for a warrant to remove said tenamt from possession of said premises; and for a judgment for rent in arrears for the Sum of $220 ’ ’. (Emphasis supplied.)

[153]*153On September 17,1960, the defendant paid the plaintiffs $220. On September 19, the plaintiffs sent the defendant a letter which read in part as follows:

“ Please take notice that if you fail to conclude and execute a lease with the landlord before September 30, 1960 for your continued possession of apartment L12 in Building 1195 East Broadway, Hewlett, Long Island, and if you remain in possession of said apartment which you occupy on October 1, 1960, and/or thereafter, that the landlord elects and will treat and consider you as its tenant for one year and your rent for the apartment will be $270. monthly, payable in advance. * * *

“ Since we will be closed Thursday and Friday of this week for the Jewish New Year, we will again have a full staff on the premises, this coming week-end and at other times you can sign your lease directly with Mr. Cymrot at the office.”

On September 21 the defendant’s wife died. On October 3 the defendant sent a check to the plaintiffs in the sum of $220 which was deposited on October 4. On October 6, the plaintiffs wrote the defendant a letter, which in part stated: “We accepted the $220. rent check from Mr. Schwartz not on any monthly basis but on the assumption that he would execute a three year lease as per his conversation with Mr. Cymrot. If he does not wish to abide by the notice of September 19th or negotiate a different lease then we regret to advise that we are compelled to take the legal position set forth in said letter of September 19th and the check for $220. will be accepted on account of the rent for October.”

A check in the amount of $220 in payment of the November rent tendered on October 31 was returned on November 7, on which day this action was instituted.

The indorsement on the summons reads: 16 First cause of Action: Balance due in the sum of $50. for rent for month of October, 1960 for apartment L12 premises 1195 E. Broadway, Hewlett, New York. Second cause of Action: Bent for the month of November, 1960 in the sum of $270 for the above mentioned premises. Total amount due $320., no part of which has been paid although duly demanded and said sum is still due and owing to plaintiff.”

The answer is a general denial and contains certain affirmative defenses and a counterclaim which need not here be detailed.

The plaintiffs urge that when the subleasor was evicted the defendant here became a mere trespasser, or at most a bare licensee. See Basch, Landlord and Tenant (vol. 1, § 102 et seq.) [154]*154where the precarious position of a subtenant is detailed. In section 104 it is stated:

If a paramount lease be cancelled by its own terms, the sublease likewise is cancelled. If the subtenant then wishes to vacate, he may do so. If he does not vacate, he must continue to perform the terms of his sublease even though loss of possession is imminent,— when the paramount landlord takes the proper steps to evict him. (§§ 102, 103, ante.)

Therefore, a subtenant, whose sublease has been prematurely cancelled by a cancellation of the paramount lease, must, if he desire to continue in possession, enter into a new agreement with the paramount landlord.

‘ ‘ Such a new agreement with the paramount landlord constitutes a new lease, and if for a longer period than one year, must be in writing.

‘1 If the subtenant cannot, or does not wish to enter into such new agreement with the paramount landlord, the subtenant should not misunderstand his position. Merely because the landlord may not have joined him in the summary proceedings against the subleasor, will only give the subtenant a temporary right to possession.”

(See, also, City of New York v. Fink, 130 Misc. 620; Christatos v. United Cigar Stores Co. of America, 144 Misc. 322; Gasoff Realty Corp. v. Berger, 188 Misc. 622; Geist v. State of New York, 3 Misc 2d 714.)

It is difficult to understand how, on the facts here presented, the plaintiffs insist that the defendant remained a trespasser and that no conventional landlord and tenant relationship was created in the face of the correspondence and earlier pleadings where there is continued reference to the defendant as a “ tenant.” If, on September 17, the sum of $220 was paid the plaintiffs merely for ‘ ‘ use and occupation ’ ’ without changing the status of the defendant from trespasser to tenant, can it be properly urged that this payment covered only the period from September 9 to 17 ? In any event, the court holds that a landlord and tenant relationship was created whether it was a tenancy from month to month, at will, or by sufferance.

What was the effect of the service of the notice on September 19?

Where the landlord by reasonable notice notifies a month-to-month tenant of an increase in rent, the tenant is deemed to have assented to pay such increased rent by holding over beyond the date fixed in the notice. (Avelino v. Fasano, 15 Misc 2d [155]*155635; Fordham Hill Associates v. Fiebach, 21 Misc 2d 277; 4145 Corp. v. Brown, 19 Misc 2d 957; V. G. C. Realty Corp. v. Rosa, 193 N. Y. S. 2d 678; Breslaw v. Rightmire, 119 Misc. 833; Commercial Cable Bldg. Co. v. McKenna, 168 N. Y. S. 13.) In principle, if such a notice is effective for the purpose of creating a new provision as to rent, it would appear equally effective to create a new term. (Cf. 1 Rasch, Landlord and Tenant, pp. 148, 149; Harrison v. Berkowitz, 202 Misc. 799; Fordham Hill Associates v. Gelbert, 9 Misc 2d 721; Hendrickson v. Fulton, 183 Misc. 914; Kaufman v. Bartels, 182 Misc. 128, motion for leave to appeal denied 268 App. Div. 864; Despard v. Walbridge, 15 N. Y. 374; Levin v. Rosenkrantz, 86 N. Y. S. 2d 271.)

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
30 Misc. 2d 152, 213 N.Y.S.2d 993, 1961 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3091, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ungar-v-schwartz-nydistctnassau-1961.