Deemed Renewals are Stricken Down by the Appellate Division

The Appellate Division has determined that Rent Stabilization Code 2523.5(c)(2) is invalid. This provision of the Code was enacted to provide landlords with another means of dealing with rent stabilized tenants who receive a renewal lease and fail to sign it. In the past landlords could choose to ignore the failure of the tenant to sign it or could commence a summary holdover proceeding to evict the tenant for the failure to sign it (though the tenant could always remain in possession by finally signing it). This provision of the Code was intended to provide landlords with the option of deeming the lease to have been renewed. In the case of Samson Management v. Hubert, 92 A.D.3d 932, 939 N.Y.S.2d 138 (2nd Dept. 2012) the Appellate Division held that this portion of the Code section was invalid because it conflicted with New York Real Property Law 232-c. RPL 232-c had been enacted to abolish the common law rule that a tenant of more than 1 year who held over could be bound to a new lease term of equal length. In other words, in New York when a tenant holds over the landlord cannot bind that tenant to a new lease term. Instead the tenant becomes a month to month tenant who can have his/her tenancy terminated on 30 days notice. The Code section conflicted with RPL 232-c because it permitted a landlord to deem the tenant to have renewed for a 1 year term. The Appellate Division held that the RPL trumped the Code. In light of this ruling when a tenant remains in possession after the expiration of his/her lease term but refused to sign the renewal lease the landlord will only be able to commence a holdover proceeding to force the renewal of the lease (or the vacating of the apartment).