Fordham University School of Law From the SelectedWorks of Hon. Gerald Lebovits January, 2010 New York Residential Landlord-Tenant Law and Procedure 2009-2010 (2d ed. 2010) Gerald Lebovits Available at: https://works.bepress.com/gerald_lebovits/173/
NYSBA Shop http://www.nysba.org/am/template.cfm?section=shop&template=/ecommerce/productdi... Page 1 of 2 1/7/2010 Skip Navigation My NYSBA Login Join Renew Web Survey FAQ Online Store Search Home My NYSBA Blogs CLE Home Publications / Forms Shop View Basket Your Account Order History Check Out NY Residential Landlord-Tenant Law and Procedure--2009-2010 Events For Attorneys For the Community Forums / Listserves Membership Non-Member Price: $80.00 Member Price: $72.00 Practice Management Publications / Forms Attorney Reference Books Bar Journal Bar Journal @ HeinOnline (1928-2004) Downloadable Forms For Solos: Planning Ahead Guide LegalEASE Informational Pamphlets (Series de Folletos de Servidumbres Legales) NY Law Digest online edition Section Publications Shop Browse by Product Category Browse by Topic eproducts State Bar News Substantive Reports The Complete Lawyer The Practice of Law in New York State (members only) Sections / Committees JOIN / RENEW LOGIN SITE MAP Search this Site THE NEW YORK BAR FOUNDATION Stock Status: In Stock Product Code: 41699 Honorable Gerald Lebovits; Damon P. Howard, Esq.; Victor S. Faleck, Author: Esq. Product Description New York Residential Landlord-Tenant Law and Procedure Authors Hon. Gerald Lebovits New York City Civil Court, Housing Part, New York, NY Damon P. Howard, Esq. Finkelstein Newman Ferrara LLP, New York, NY Victor S. Faleck, Esq. Appellate Term, Second Department Key Benefits Understand the statuary framework for landlord-tenant summary proceedings Enhance your skills dealing with landlord-tenant disputes Product Description New York residential landlord-tenant law is daunting to newcomers and the experienced alike, given its patchwork statutory framework, discordant case law, and emotion-laden disputes involving homes, money, and the charged landlord-tenant relationship. This monograph introduces the fundamentals of residential landlordtenant law and offers a guide to the procedural mechanics practitioners face in landlord-tenant disputes. Greatly expanded for 2009-2010 with numerous samples of judicial forms. The 2009-2010 release is current through the 2009 New York State legislative session. Contents at a Glance I. Introduction II. The Tenancy III. Tenancy Protections IV. Conveying the Tenancy V. Types of Proceedings VI. Service Rules VII. General and Affirmative Defenses to a Residential Landlord-Tenant Proceeding VIII. Alleging a Respondent s Military Status IX. The Competency of Parties to a Landlord-Tenant Proceeding X. Ancillary Relief: Writs of Assistance XI. Enforcing Warrants of Evictions and Orders of Protection XII. Post-eviction Relief XIII. Surrender of Possession XIV. Courts that Award Possession of Real Property
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N EW YORK PRACTICE MONOGRAPH SERIES NEW YORK RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD-TENANT LAW AND PROCEDURE Honorable Gerald Lebovits * Damon P. Howard, Esq. Victor S. Faleck, Esq. 2009 2010 * For their research help, the authors thank Judge Lebovits s summer judicial interns P. Alex de Richemont (Harvard Law School); Mariella Soussou (Fordham Law School) and Mary Jane Yoon (Columbia Law School); Housing Court Attorney Alexandra Standish, Esq.; Mary Ann Amodeo, Esq.; and law students Alana Wrublin (Fordham University School of Law) and Stephanie L. Torre (New York Law School). The authors also thank Dan M. Blumenthal for his co-authorship of the original text.
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CONTENTS I. Introduction... 1 II. The Tenancy... 1 A. Market Rentals... 4 1. The Parties... 4 2. The Premises... 5 3. Rent... 6 4. Default... 7 5. Recording of Leases... 8 B. Rent Regulation... 8 1. Rent-Controlled Premises... 9 2. Rent-Stabilized Premises... 11 3. Rent-Overcharge Claims... 15 4. Preferential Rents... 15 C. Public Housing... 17 D. Section 8 (Tenant and Project-Based) Housing... 18 1. The Voucher Program... 18 2. Project-Based Section 8... 22 E. Cooperatives and Condominiums... 22 1. Housing Development Fund Companies... 24 2. Limited Profit Housing Companies (Mitchell-Lama Housing)... 25 F. Lofts... 25 G. Single-Room Occupancies (SROs)... 26 III. Tenancy Protections... 27 A. Housing Discrimination... 27 B. Warranty of Habitability... 29 IV. Conveying the Tenancy... 31 V. Types of Proceedings... 33 A. Summary Proceedings... 33 1. Introduction... 33 2. The Structure of Modern Summary Proceedings... 36 3. Types of Summary Proceedings... 37 a. Holdover Proceedings... 37 (1) Grounds to Maintain Holdover Proceedings... 39 (a) Chronic Late Payment of Rent... 39 (b) Sublets... 39 (c) Pets... 42 (d) Alterations... 43 (e) Access... 43 (f) Security Deposit... 44 (g) Illegal Occupancy... 44 (h) Illegal Use... 44 (i) Specified Use or Purpose... 46 (j) Nuisance... 47 iii
(k) Destruction of the Premises... 48 (l) Hoarding... 49 (2) Grounds to Recover Rent-Regulated Units... 49 (a) Nonprimary Residence... 49 (b) Owner s Use... 50 (c) Recovery for Use by Non-profit Institution... 52 (d) Demolition... 53 (e) Withdrawal from the Rental Market... 53 (f) Eviction Plan... 53 (g) Failure to Renew... 54 (h) Profiteering... 54 (3) Grounds for Holdover Proceedings Against Non-tenants... 55 (a) Licensee Proceedings... 55 (b) Squatters... 58 (c) Occupant Remaining in Possession after Sale of the Premises.. 58 (d) Vendee in Possession after Default under Contract of Sale... 59 (e) Occupant under Cultivation Agreement... 59 (f) Employer-Employee Proceedings... 59 (g) Occupant after Termination of Life Estate... 60 (h) Occupant by Forcible or Unlawful Entry... 61 (4) Predicate Notices... 61 (5) Notice of Petition and Petition... 68 (6) Inquests... 75 (7) The Warrant and Stays of Execution... 76 (8) Rent Deposits... 80 b. Nonpayment Proceedings... 81 (1) Proper Parties... 81 (2) Elements of Proceeding... 81 (3) Rent Demands... 81 (4) Notice of Petition and Petition... 84 (5) Defaults... 84 (6) Stays... 85 (7) Spiegel Law... 87 (8) Laches... 87 (9) Bankruptcy... 88 c. Answering a Summary Proceeding... 88 d. Recovery of Use and Occupancy in Summary Proceedings... 91 e. Disclosure... 95 4. Settlements in Landlord-Tenant Summary Proceedings... 96 B. Ejectment Actions... 100 C. HP Proceedings... 102 D. Article 7-A Proceedings... 107 E. Proceedings under the Tenant Protection Act... 108 F. Illegal-Lockout Proceedings... 109 G. Foreclosure Proceedings... 112 VI. Service Rules... 117 iv
VII. General and Affirmative Defenses to a Residential Landlord-Tenant Proceeding... 121 VIII. Alleging a Respondent s Military Status... 124 IX. The Competency of Parties to a Landlord-Tenant Proceeding... 125 X. Enforcing Warrants of Eviction and Orders of Possession... 128 XI. Post-eviction Relief... 128 XII. Surrender of Possession... 131 XIII. Courts that Award Possession of Real Property... 131 A. Supreme Court... 131 B. The New York City Civil Court... 132 C. New York State District Courts (Nassau and Suffolk Counties)... 134 D. Justice Courts... 135 E. Surrogate s Court... 136 F. County Courts... 136 G. Federal Courts... 136 H. Appeals... 137 XIV. Conclusion... 140 Residential Landlord-Tenant Forms Index... 143 Table of Authorities... 327 About the Authors... 359 v
ABOUT THE AUTHORS VICTOR S. FALECK, ESQ. Victor Faleck received a B.S. (valedictorian) and B.A. degree from Yeshiva University in 1976, and a J.D. (cum laude) from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 1979. He has served in the appellate courts of New York State for 30 years and is currently Deputy Chief Court Attorney at the Appellate Term of the Supreme Court, Second Judicial Department. He has been lecturing on landlordtenant law to the Housing Court Judges Association since 1995 and at the New York State Judicial Institute since 2003. DAMON P. HOWARD, ESQ. Damon P. Howard is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and received his law degree from Tulane University in 2005. While in law school, Mr. Howard interned for the U.S. Attorney s Office, Criminal Division, and is admitted to the bars of both Louisiana and New York. Mr. Howard is currently an associate with Finkelstein Newman Ferrara LLP. HONORABLE GERALD LEBOVITS Gerald Lebovits is a judge of the New York City Civil Court, Housing Part, and an adjunct professor at St. John's University School of Law, where he won the Dean s Teaching Award for 2007 2008 and where the students elected him Adjunct Professor for the Year for 2008 2009. For 18 years he was an Adjunct Professor at New York Law School, where he also earned Adjunct Professor of the Year honors. A faculty member of the New York State Judicial Institute teaching judges and court attorneys, he co-chairs the New York State Bar Association s Committee on Landlord-Tenant Proceedings and, since 2001, has authored the New York State Bar Association Journal s Legal Writer column. He graduated from the Ottawa, Tulane, and New York University law schools. He is the president of the Association of Housing Court Judges of the City of New York and, as of January 2010, an Adjunct Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. 359