Nonrenewal Notice Sent During Invalid Window Period

Facts: Tenant moved into a rent-stabilized apartment in 1973 but received no lease from prior landlord until 1981. Prior landlord didn’t renew that lease or increase tenant’s rent before selling the building in 2000. New landlord then offered tenant a two-year renewal lease on short notice. Tenant accepted, and the renewal lease started on Sept. 1, 2000. Before tenant’s renewal lease expired in 2002, landlord sent tenant a nonrenewal notice during the window period between 150 and 120 days before the renewal lease expired. Landlord then sued to evict tenant for nonprimary residence, claiming that tenant lived more than half the year in Portugal. The trial court ruled for landlord. Tenant appealed. The lower appeals court ruled against tenant, but gave him permission to appeal further.

Court: Tenant wins. Landlord’s nonrenewal notice was untimely. When landlord renewed tenant’s lease in 2000, it gave tenant only 16 days’ advance notice. Rent Stabilization Code Section 2523.5 required landlord to give tenant at least 120 days’ notice of the lease renewal. As a result, the 2000 renewal lease legally couldn’t have started until at least Dec. 15, 2000, or ended until Dec. 14, 2002. Landlord then was required under Rent Stabilization Code Section 2524.4(c) to send any lease nonrenewal notice some time between 120 and 150 days before the renewal lease expired. Since the 2000 renewal could only have commenced on or after Dec. 15, 2000, this pushed the legal expiration date of that renewal lease to at least Dec. 14, 2002. Landlord sent the nonrenewal notice to tenant on May 14, 2002, which was more than 150 days before Dec. 14, 2002. So the nonrenewal notice was invalid, and the case must be dismissed.

Santorini Equities, Inc. v. Picarra: NYLJ, 2/2/10, p. 43, col. 1 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Tom, JP, Friedman, Catterson, Moskowitz, Richter, JJ)