Landlord's Rent Demand Was Fatally Defective

Landlord sued to evict tenant for nonpayment of rent. Tenant claimed that landlord's rent demand didn't provide a good faith estimate of the rent actually owed. The court agreed and dismissed the case. Landlord appealed and lost. The rent demand sought arrears from May 2016 through September 2016. Landlord admitted it had received payments earmarked for May and June 2016 but failed to apply those payments to the periods for which they were intended. Landlord also admitted receiving payment earmarked for September 2016 rent three days before the rent demand was drafted and 14 days before it was served, omitting this payment from the rent notice. Given the resulting inaccuracies in the rent demand, this may have prevented tenant from putting forth appropriate defenses in the nonpayment case. So the eviction petition was dismissed.

EOM 106-15 217th Corp. v. Severine: 62 Misc.3d 141(A), 2019 NY Slip Op 50068(U) (App. T. 2 Dept.; 1/11/19; Pesce, PJ, Liotta, Elliot, JJ)