Tenant Kept Two Cats for More than Three Months

Landlord sued to evict 73-year-old tenant for keeping pets in her apartment, in violation of her lease. Tenant claimed that landlord knew for more than three months that she kept two cats, and that landlord therefore waived the right to evict her based on this lease violation. The trial court ruled for landlord. Tenant appealed and won. Landlord then appealed and lost. Tenant proved that she kept her two cats openly, without hiding them from landlord or its agents. Even if the cats were shy and tended to hide from strangers, tenant kept a litter box in her bathroom, and she wasn’t required to display the cats in public. The building contractor who performed minor repairs in the building, and in tenant’s apartment, was a long-term independent contractor who was landlord’s agent. Since he had knowledge of tenant’s cats more than three months before landlord started the eviction case, this knowledge was considered given to landlord under the pet law.

184 West 10th Street Corp. v. Marvits: NYLJ, 2/26/09, p. 33, col. 5 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Saxe, JP, Gonzalez, Sweeny, Renwick, DeGrasse, JJ)