Landlord Cooperative Can Evict Shareholder for Objectionable Conduct

Landlord cooperative corporation sued to evict co-op shareholder tenants based on objectionable conduct. The court ruled for landlord. Tenants appealed and lost. Tenants' proprietary lease allows landlord to terminate a lease upon a vote of four-fifths of the board of directors and two-thirds of the shareholders. Starting in 1992, tenants, husband and wife, had complained about apartment conditions and withheld maintenance and other payments. Landlord sued tenants for nonpayment many times, resulting in payments from tenants of $170,000 in arrears and $400,000 in attorney's fees. Tenant husband was a real estate attorney and disregarded the court-ordered settlement. Tenants also installed a water-cooled air conditioning system in the apartment, which caused damage to the apartment below, and were uncooperative in giving landlord access to inspect. Tenants also threatened to sue any other shareholder who voted to terminate their tenancy. Still, 98 percent of shareholders voted to terminate tenants' tenancy. Tenants presented no proof that landlord had acted in bad faith.

1050 Tenants Corp. v. Lapidus: ___ N.Y.S.2d ___, 2007 WL 1191028 (4/24/07)(App. Div. 1 Dept.; Andrias, JP, Saxe, Buckley, Gonzalez, McGuire, JJ)