Landlord Must Send Cure Notice to Mitchell-Lama Tenant

Landlord sued to evict Mitchell-Lama tenant. Landlord first sent tenant a notice to cure a substantial obligation of his tenancy by allowing additional, unauthorized persons to live in the apartment. Landlord followed the cure notice with a termination notice. The termination notice restated the claims of the cure notice and added nuisance claims. The termination notice claimed for the first time that tenant engaged in chronic antisocial, disruptive, destructive, dangerous, and illegal behavior. Tenant asked the court to dismiss the case. He claimed that landlord hadn't sent him a notice to cure the nuisance behavior. Landlord claimed that no cure notice was needed because nuisance can't be cured. Landlord pointed to other court decisions that had ruled this. The court ruled against landlord. The other cases didn't involve Mitchell-Lama tenants. Mitchell-Lama regulations require landlord to send a notice to cure if tenant nuisance is claimed. So the portion of landlord's claim regarding nuisance was dismissed. Landlord could proceed to seek eviction based on its other claims.

Sea Park West Houses v. Williams: NYLJ, 5/19/04, p. 19, col. 3 (Civ. Ct. Kings; Finkelstein, J)