Landlord and tenant matters, in the five boroughs of the City of New York, are handled by Civil Courts, in particular by their landlord & tenant parts. The court proceedings in landlord and tenant matters are divided into two major groups: non-payment and holdover proceedings. Holdover proceedings deal with a situation when a landlord attempts to remove a tenant based on expiration of a lease or violation of a lease or housing regulations, whereas non-payment proceedings concern all the matters relating to non-payment of rent by tenants. Today I will write a bit on the subject of the holdover proceedings, in which an owner can initiate court proceeding based on expiration of a lease, or upon violation of a lease or landlord and tenant laws by a tenant. In case of violation of a lease or of the law, landlord has to serve on tenant a written "notice to cure" demanding that tenant cease the violation in a certain time period, most often within 10 days. If the tenant fails to cure the violation or to stop illegal conduct, then the landlord can serve a 30 day termination notice, requesting that the tenant move out within the given time period or he or she will be into dragged into a landlord and tenant court. Frequently, tenant does not move out and landlord has to file with appropriate court and serve on tenant a holdover petition and notice of petition. The service of notice of petition on the tenant is usually accomplished by a licensed process server, who knows all the legal requirements of the proper service. Improper service of notice of petition might cause a dismissal of the court proceedings, and a necessity of restarting the case from scratch. The tenant is obligated to answer the petition, by serving an answer on the landlord (or landlord's attorney) and filing it with the landlord & tenant clerk of the appropriate Civil Court of the City of New York, within certain time limits set forth inn the notice of petition. The court proceedings usually require 2, 3 or 4 court appearances in front of a judge in a resolution part, who attempts to resolve the case amicably, by a written settlement agreement between the parties. If the parties are unable to come to an agreement, and all parties' motions were adjudicated, the resolution part judge will send the case to a trial part, where another judge would conduct a trial, at which the parties can present their case through testimony of their witnesses and documentary evidence. After presentation of the testimony, the trial part would issue a decision, either granting the landlord a judgment and warrant of eviction, or dismissing the case. Even after the warrant of eviction has been issued, landlord cannot remove tenant immediately. First, a marshal or sheriff has to serve the tenant with a notice of eviction. Even after execution of the service of notice of eviction, the tenant has still 72 hrs for making an application with the court to stop the eviction, provided the tenant has a reasonable basis for such an application. In such a scenario the eviction is being stopped, at least until the adjudication of the tenant's application by the court. In case of denial of such an application, landlord, through marshal or sheriff, can proceed with the eviction of the tenant. Next time, I will write about landlord & tenant proceedings based on non-payment of rent.
Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney, writing on legal and other important to community topics. You can reach him through e-mail at jwandrzejewski@gmail.com or janusz@januszandrzejewski.com, by telephone (212) 634-4250.
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