Tenant Removed and Discarded Kitchen Cabinets

Landlord sued to evict tenant for breaching a substantial obligation of his tenancy. Tenant had removed the existing kitchen cabinets in his apartment without prior written permission from landlord. This violated the terms of tenant's lease. The trial court ruled for landlord, and tenant appealed. Tenant claimed that this wasn't a ''substantial'' lease violation. Tenant also claimed he should be given 10 days to correct the breach. The court ruled against tenant. The court found it ''beyond question'' that removing the kitchen cabinets without prior written permission violated a substantial obligation of the tenancy because the lease required such approval. And, since tenant had destroyed the old cabinets and left them out for trash pick-up, there was no possibility that he could correct the condition.

SJL Parc Plaza Co. v. Soroudi: NYLJ, p. 24, col. 4 (3/22/94) (App. T. 2 Dept.; Aronin, JP, Scholnick, Patterson, JJ)