Landlord Must Pay for Tenant's Additional Storage Costs

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for nonpayment of rent. Landlord and tenant signed a settlement agreement in court. While landlord did building renovations, tenant would temporarily relocate. Landlord, in turn, would waive back rent due and would reimburse tenant up to $600 for storage costs during the five months that landlord said was needed for the renovations. Landlord hadn't finished the work after five months, and tenant asked the court to order landlord to reimburse tenant for additional storage costs. The court ruled for tenant. Landlord appealed, claiming that this violated their agreement. The appeals court ruled against landlord. Landlord took six months longer to finish the work than it had agreed. So the lower court properly adjusted the settlement agreement to award tenant more storage costs.

Halpern Realty LLC v. Bloom: NYLJ, 3/28/02, p. 20, col. 6 (App. T.1 Dept.; McCooe, JP, Davis, Suarez, JJ)