Notice to Cure to Noisy Tenant Was Specific Enough

Landlord sued to evict tenant, based on excessive noise. In the notice to cure, landlord told tenant that constant unreasonable noise, including noise from loud music and television, dropping items on the floor, running the bathwater at full blast for several hours, and screaming tantrums violated her lease by disturbing her neighbors. Tenant claimed the notice was defective because it told her that, to correct the problem, she must install carpeting in 80 percent of her apartment a requirement that wasn't in her lease or the building's house rules. The trial court ruled for tenant, and dismissed the case without a trial. Landlord appealed, and the appeals court sent the case back for a trial. Landlord's notice to cure wasn't defective. It described, in detail, how tenant's conduct had breached her lease; said that other tenants had been complaining about the noise from her apartment since 1990; and specified which lease paragraph she'd violated. The statement that tenant must carpet 80 percent of her apartment, by itself, wasn't enough to make the notice defective.

Fairmont Manor Co. v. Marina Saint Michael: NYLJ, p. 27, col. 4 (2/2/95) (App. T. 1 Dept.; Miller, JP, McCooe, Glen, JJ)