Tenant Cured Illegal Apartment Alterations

Landlord sued to evict rent-controlled tenant for making unauthorized apartment alterations. The trial court ruled for landlord and gave tenant time to cure to avoid eviction. Landlord later claimed that tenant hadn’t restored the apartment during the time allowed, and the court approved proceeding with the eviction. Tenant appealed. The appeals court ruled for tenant and sent the case back. The court correctly found that tenant had altered floors, closets, the bathroom door, and kitchen cabinets without landlord’s consent. But tenant substantially complied with the court's post-judgment cure order. Tenant restored the flooring, bathroom door, bedroom closet, and two kitchen cabinets in a timely manner. Although tenant may not have removed three newly added kitchen cabinets, one of these wasn’t even mentioned by landlord during the trial and any violation of the court order by this omission was minor.

Benjamin Scott Corp. v. Lydia: NYLJ, 4/14/09, p. 33, col. 1 (App. T. 1 Dept.; McKeon, PJ, Schoenfeld, Heitler, JJ)