No Termination Notice Required Before Eviction Proceeding

Landlord sued to evict unregulated tenant whose lease had expired. Tenant claimed that landlord hadn’t first sent him a termination notice. The court ruled for tenant and dismissed the case. Landlord appealed and won. Landlord wasn’t required to send tenant a termination notice, either under the terms of tenant’s lease or under Real Property Law Section 232-a, because the fixed term of the lease had expired and the tenancy was unregulated. There also was no proof that any month-to-month tenancy had been created, and landlord started the court proceeding promptly after the lease expired. As an additional reason for the eviction action, landlord’s holdover petition also stated that tenant had engaged in many actions of objectionable conduct. So, due process for notice had been satisfied. The case was reopened and sent back to the trial court.

206 West 121st Street HDFC v. Jones: 53 Misc.3d 149(A), 2016 NY Slip Op 51668(U) (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 11/22/16; Schoenfeld, JP, Shulman, Gonzalez, JJ)