The First Case To Have Negotiations Extend the Cure Period
May 18, 2016
By Scott E. Mollen
Landlord-Tenant—The Parties’ Extensive Settlement Negotiations, Including the Landlord’s Acceptance of A Sublet Application and Cashier’s Checks Tendered by Tenants, Extended to Cure Period
A landlord commenced an illegal sublet holdover proceeding. The trial court found that the parties’ “extensive settlement negotiations, including the acceptance by landlord of a sublet application and cashier’s checks tendered by tenants, served to extend the cure period through the commencement of the proceeding….” The Appellate Term, for the 2d, 11th and 13th Judicial Districts, explained that “it was the landlord’s burden to prove that tenants had failed to cure the alleged lease violation within the cure period as extended.” Since the landlord “failed to meet this burden,” the final judgment was affirmed.
Comment: Adam Leitman Bailey, counsel for the tenants, opined that “[t]his appears to be the first case that has applied this principle [that negotiations had extended the cure period] to a residential setting.”
Mansfield Owners v. Phillip, App. Term, Supreme Court, Appellate Term, 2d, 11th and 13th Judicial Districts, Index No. 2015-00124 K C, decided Feb. 5, 2016, Pesce, P.J., Weston and Aliotta, JJ. concur.