NY's Highest Court Grants License to Change NY's Licensing Law

Although the court in Dolittle recognized that “[i]t is sometimes difficult to distinguish between an easement, a license, and a lease,” the authors of this article, nine years ago, published a thorough review of the case law distinguishing leases from licenses, and we noted that New York courts had consistently held a license exists when: 1) the owner retains absolute control over the premises; 2) the owner supplies all of the essential services required for the licensee's permitted use of the premises; and 3) the owner may revoke the permitted use of the premises “at will.” (See Karp v. Federated Department Stores, Inc. d/b/a Macy's' 301 AD2d 574, 754 NYS2d 27 (2d Dept. 2003). Since then, due to the frustration and delays in evictions that commercial landlords have suffered for decades, practitioners have increasingly advised their clients to turn to licensing and self-help lease provisions to facilitate more swift and less costly eviction proceedings.