Landlord Doesn't Prove There Was a Renewal Lease Corresponding to Its Nonrenewal Notice

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for nonprimary residence. Landlord claimed that tenant’s latest renewal lease started on Dec. 1, 2010, and ended on Nov. 30, 2012, and that landlord sent a nonrenewal notice to tenant between 90 and 120 days before that renewal lease expired. The trial court ruled for landlord. Tenant appealed and won. At trial, landlord provided a 1992 lease but no renewal lease for the term commencing on Dec. 1, 2010. DHCR rent registration records produced at trial reflected no lease information after 1992 until renewal leases that were recorded for one-year periods commencing Jan. 1, 2013, and Jan. 1, 2014. Since landlord failed to prove at trial that there was a renewal lease from Dec. 1, 2010, through Nov. 30, 2012, it didn’t prove that a proper nonrenewal/termination notice was sent. The DHCR registrations also indicated that landlord later renewed tenant’s lease, which vitiated the lease nonrenewal notice. The case was sent back to the trial court for entry of a judgment dismissing the case.

Nachajski v. Siwiec: 55 Misc.3d 133(A), 2017 NY Slip Op. 50438(U) (App. T. 2 Dept.; 4/7/17; Pesce, PJ, Aliotta, Elliot, JJ)