Landlord Can Evict Tenant Who Violated Settlement Agreement

(Decision submitted by Paul N. Gruber, of the Manhattan law firm of Borah, Goldstein, Altschuler, Nahins & Goidel, P.C., attorneys for the landlord.)

Landlord sued to evict tenant for chronic nonpayment of rent. Landlord and tenant signed a settlement agreement in court by which tenant consented to a two-year probation period and promised to pay monthly rent by the fifth day of each month. The agreement also gave landlord a judgment of possession and stayed execution on an eviction warrant provided that tenant complied with the settlement agreement. The court later granted tenant's request to stay execution on the warrant after he breached the agreement to pay timely rent. Landlord appealed and won based on tenant's failure to pay June 2015 rent on time. The settlement agreement stated that "time is of the essence" and that tenant had an extensive history of nonpayment. Tenant then appealed to a higher court and lost. Tenant didn't appear before the lower appellate court to oppose landlord's appeal of the housing court's decision. So tenant wasn't an "aggrieved party" under CPLR Section 5511, and therefore had no basis to appeal.

141 Avenue A Associates v. Klein: Index No. 80995/14, 570716/15 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 2/20/18; Renwick, JP, Richter, Manzanet-Daniels, Andrias, Gesmer, JJ)