Landlord Can't Enforce Eviction Warrant After Later Signing Renewal Lease by Mistake

LVT Number: #28262

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized and subsidized tenant for entering into at least 15 short-term rentals of her apartment at a rate of $350 per night. Tenant's monthly rent was $546. Landlord and tenant signed a settlement agreement in court by which landlord received a judgment of possession, and eviction was delayed until Dec. 31, 2016. But on Nov. 21, 2016, landlord sent tenant a renewal lease commencing on April 1, 2017. Tenant signed the renewal lease on Dec. 12, 2016, and returned it to landlord with a request for a two-year renewal. Landlord then countersigned the renewal lease and sent a copy back to tenant. In January 2017, the court vacated the judgment and eviction warrant based on landlord's ratification of the lease renewal. But landlord asked the court to reconsider, and the court then ruled for landlord, finding that the renewal was an accident and landlord didn't intend to revive the tenancy.

Tenant appealed and won. When landlord offered a renewal lease to tenant, it was under no legal obligation to do so. Landlord didn't reserve its rights under the court judgment. Both sides signed the renewal lease, and landlord accepted the additional security deposit. The executed renewal lease was binding. Landlord can't claim unilateral mistake where the mistake in offering the renewal lease arose from landlord's own negligence in failing to note the settlement agreement and eviction warrant in its records.

Related Broadway Development LLC v. Malo: 58 Misc.3d 154(A), 2018 NY Slip Op 50175(U) (App. T. 1 Dept.; 2/14/18; Shulman, PJ, Ling-Cohan, Gonzalez, JJ)