Landlord Had Notice of Illegal Use

Landlord sued to evict tenant for illegal use. Tenant and her mentally incapacitated daughter lived on the second floor of a building that was zoned for commercial use. Landlord claimed that tenant's illegal residential occupancy caused a building violation. Tenant claimed that she had lived in the unit for 18 years and that prior landlord gave her a 40-year lease for residential or commercial use. Tenant said that prior landlord gave her the lease because tenant had taken care of landlord and his sister. The court ruled against landlord. Landlord bought the building with notice of tenant's lease. This was a condition created by prior landlord. Also, landlord could correct the violation by amending the certificate of occupancy to include residential use. And there was no proof that landlord could correct the violation only by removing tenant.

2610 Cropsey Development Corp. v. Castro: NYLJ, 3/29/06, p. 21, col. 1 (Sup. Ct. Kings; Bunyan, J)