New York Landlord & Tenant Litigation: Special Residential Issues (Update)

There are, on average, 254,183 new landlord and tenant cases filed in the Housing Parts of the New York City Civil Courts every year. The courts are open about 250 days a year. That is 1,017 new cases, on average, for every day that the court is open. Moreover, these cases spawn an astounding 242,250 motions, on average, per year. These cases also result in 125,951 warrants of eviction. In other words, there is a huge volume of Landlord and Tenant cases working its way through the court system. This program, taught by Michelle Maratto Itkowitz, a noted NYC Landlord-Tenant attorney, will examine some of the special issues that come up when litigating a landlord and tenant case in New York.

Many landlords and tenants believe that the basis of their relationship lies in the language of the lease. However, many provisions of a residential lease are, essentially, meaningless. A lease, for example, might say that a residential tenant is prohibited from subletting, but that is simply not the case. This program will from provide practical “myth-busting,” around these issues by tracking a standard residential lease and pointing out all the rights that a residential tenant actually has and that a landlord of a residential premises must be mindful of and respect.

1. Protect your client, be they landlord or tenant, from the pitfalls of the violation of the warranty of habitability
2. Advise your client about who has a right to occupy an apartment and why
3. Review the law surrounding short-term rentals, such as on Airbnb
4. Discuss the reciprocal nature of an attorneys fee clause in a residential lease
5. Litigate a wide-range of issues that arise in a residential L&T case
6. Survey basic issues involving security deposits, guarantees, and counterclaims in the residential context