Landlord Waived No-Pet Clause

Landlord sued to evict Mitchell-Lama co-op tenant for keeping a cat in his apartment in violation of a no-pet clause in his lease. Landlord claimed it discovered the cat after neighbors complained of an odor coming from tenant's apartment. Tenant claimed that the building's super saw tenant's cat shortly after tenant moved into the building seven years ago. Tenant also stated that various building employees saw the cat in tenant's apartment at different times during the seven years tenant had lived there. The court ruled against landlord. Testimony by tenant and at least some of landlord's building employees showed that landlord knew about tenant's cat for much longer than three months before landlord took any action. So landlord waived the right to enforce the no-pet clause.

Adee Tower Apts. v. Levy: NYLJ, p. 27, col. 1 (5/27/98) (Civ. Ct. Bronx; Fiorella, J)