Landlord's Claim for Eviction Based on Chronic Nonpayment Denied

Landlord sued to evict tenant for chronic nonpayment of rent. The court ruled against landlord, who appealed and lost. Tenant’s failure to pay rent led to the commencement of nine nonpayment proceedings over a 16-year period but only two cases had been commenced since 2009. Also, tenant got rent abatements in at least five of the cases, and two cases were settled by agreements requiring landlord to make repairs or cure violations. Therefore, landlord failed to establish a pattern of unjustified rent defaults on tenant’s part sufficient to constitute a violation of a substantial obligation of the tenancy. Since tenant had bona fide claims about repairs that were grounds for withholding rent, landlord can’t maintain a claim based on chronic nonpayment.

Terrilee 97th Street LLC v. Alaharzi: 2016 NY Slip Op 51694(U), 2016 WL 6990591 (App. T. 1 Dept.; 11/29/16; Schoenfeld, JP, Shulman, Gonzalez, JJ)