Tenant's Lease Is Valid

Facts: In 1989, tenant moved into apartment owned by landlord co-op conversion sponsor. Landlord gave tenant a lease with generous terms. Under the lease, tenant was given all the rights of a rent-stabilized tenant, including lease renewals at rent guidelines increases. Tenant was also given an unlimited right to sublet or assign the apartment. Tenant's lease was last renewed by the building's managing agent in 1993. New landlord bought tenant's apartment shortly thereafter from a bank that had foreclosed on prior landlord. New landlord sued to have tenant's lease revoked. Landlord claimed the various provisions of tenant's lease were invalid. Landlord also claimed that the managing agent wasn't authorized to renew tenant's lease. Tenant claimed the lease was valid, and asked for attorney's fees. Court: Landlord loses, but tenant doesn't get attorney's fees. Tenant's apartment wasn't rent-stabilized by law. But, landlord could give tenant extra rights in her lease. This also applied to the unlimited sublet and assignment rights. There was no violation of Real Property Law section 235-f merely because tenant was given more freedom to sublet than the law gave. Since tenant's lease gave her the right to rent-stabilized renewals, she could get the renewals the managing agent gave her. The court refused to award tenant attorney's fees. This wasn't an action by landlord to evict tenant for defaulting on an obligation under her lease. Since it was an action to revoke the lease, landlord couldn't rely on any lease clause to get attorney's fees. Therefore, neither could tenant.

West 56th & 57th Street Corp. v. Pearl: NYLJ, p. 33, col. 2 (11/30/93) (Sup. Ct. NY; Mazzarelli, J)