Tenant Owes One Month's Rent

Facts: Landlord condominium owner sued to evict tenant. Tenant's lease ended on Aug. 31. Landlord claimed that he extended tenant's lease for one month, orally, to Sept. 30. Tenant claimed that he became a month-to-month tenant with no time limit but surrendered possession in court on Dec. 23. Landlord claimed that tenant should have to pay rent for 90 days more because tenant's lease called for tenant to give landlord 90 days' notice of moving out. Court: Landlord loses, except that tenant must pay rent for the full month of December. Landlord claimed that tenant was holding over after Sept. 30, so there was no requirement that tenant give 90 days' notice after that date. There also was no proof of the amount of rental income landlord lost because of tenant's holding over because there was no effort to rerent the apartment before tenant moved out.

Palumbo v. Donalds: NYLJ, 2/5/03, p. 20, col. 3 (Civ. Ct. Kings; Battaglia, J)