Landlord Returned Subtenant's Checks

(Decision submitted by Niles Welikson of the Queens law firm of Horing & Welikson, P.C., attorneys for the landlord.) Landlord sued to evict tenant for illegally subletting her apartment. Landlord had consented to a two-year sublet ending on May 31, 1998, but tenant never returned, and subtenant didn't move out after the sublease ended. The subtenant claimed waiver because landlord accepted rent directly from her for the month of June 1998 and held on to rent checks sent by subtenant for some other months. The court ruled against subtenant. Landlord accepted one month's rent from subtenant, then returned checks sent for the following two months. Landlord then held on to checks sent by subtenant for another five months until it started the court action. At that time it returned those five checks. Landlord didn't express any intent of creating a landlord-tenant relationship with subtenant. There was no waiver in this case.

Sherry House Assocs. v. Lane: L&T Index No. 53744/99 (7/21/99) (Civ. Ct. NY; Spears, J) [3-pg. doc.]