Landlord Tenant Law

Section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code, which governs the disposition of executory contracts, has specific provisions regarding the disposition of commercial real estate leases in bankruptcy, including the rights of a tenant to remain in possession of the leased premises when the landlord files a bankruptcy case and rejects the lease. But what rights does a tenant have with regard to the security deposit delivered by the tenant to the landlord?

Rent Obligations of Successor Tenant to Rent-Controlled Apartment Commences At Prior Tenant's Death Landlord Not Entitled to Attorneys' Fees Incurred In Defending Unsuccessful Class Action

Administrator's Deed Divested Distributees of Ownership Interest No Rescission of Deed When Mistake Was Not Mutual Restrictive Covenant Did Not Bar Educational Use Issues of Fact About Mortgagee's Knowledge of Fraud Precludes Summary Judgment No Private Right of Action to Enforce Food Cart Regulations

The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently reversed a judgment in favor of a landlord in a tenant default matter, finding that a provision of a commercial lease that accelerated the remaining rent as liquidated damages is unenforceable as a penalty. The opinion "brings uncertainty to thousands of existing commercial lease agreements."

In the past two years, in litigations between commercial landlords and commercial tenants, appellate courts continued to issue decisions on topics, unrelated to COVID questions, that should interest all real estate attorneys and their clients.

Absence of Itemized Statement Did Not Justify Cancellation of Co-Op Corporation's Liens Jury Trial Waiver Enforced Statute of Frauds Prevents Enforcement of Gift of Co-Op Shares Mitchell-Lama Occupant Successor Occupant Entitled to Injunction Tolling Exclusive Purchaser Period

Landlord's Re-Entry Not Authorized By Lease Provision Plans to Demolish Building Supported Denial of Renewal Lease Guarantor Entitled to Raise Questions of Fact About Entitlement to Rent Abatements

In Rabbi Israel Meyer Hacochen Rabbinical Seminary of America v. Town of Putnam Valley, a federal district court in the Southern District of New York dismissed a RLUIPA claim as unripe, borrowing ripeness doctrine from the takings context and declining to apply a "futility exception" to the requirement that a landowner obtain a final decision before proceeding to federal court.