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Civil Court of the City of New York Information

The Civil Court of the City of New York has jurisdiction over civil cases involving amounts up to $25,000 and other civil matters referred to it by the Supreme Court. It includes a small claims part for informal dispositions of matters not exceeding $5,000 and a housing part for landlord-tenant matters and housing code violations.

There is a Civil Court in each county of New York City. The locations are as follows:

Bronx County Civil Court
851 Grand Concourse
Bronx, NY 10451

Kings County (Brooklyn) Civil Court
141 Livingston Street
Brooklyn, New York 11201

New York County Civil Court
111 Centre Street
New York, NY 10013

Queens County Civil Court
89-17 Sutphin Boulevard
Jamaica, New York 11435

Richmond County Civil Court
927 Castleton Avenue
Staten Island, New York 10310

Due to the fact that substantial sums of money are often at stake in Civil Court actions, all parties are urged to consult with and obtain attorneys to represent them in vindicating their rights and protecting their assets.

Our General Information Line to schedule a complimentary-no obligation consultation for all Civil Court cases is 212-921-1600.

Commercial Tenancies

We represent commercial tenants and protect and enforce their numerous rights concerning the services to which they are legally entitled and their right to operate their business at the rented premises without interference by their landlord.

Commercial Tenants have the legal right to receive all services set forth in their lease. Unlike residential tenancies, the law does not disregard clauses which are unreasonably favorable to landlords. The rationale is that in negotiating the lease in question, both the landlord and tenant are equally sophisticated and have equal bargaining power.

A landlord may not force a commercial tenant to vacate the rented premises. Commercial Tenants have the right to remain in their premises unless they are ordered out by a judge after a trial or hearing.

There are basically three types of commercial eviction summary proceedings.

Nonpayment proceeding-In this proceeding a landlord attempts to evict a commercial tenant for nonpayment of rent.
Holdover-No fault-proceeding-In this proceeding a DELETE COMMA landlord is claiming that it is entitled to possession of the commercial premises due to tenancy expiration. This type of action does not allege that the tenant engaged in any wrongdoing. This action can only be maintained in connection with a lease expiration or if there is no lease currently in effect upon the expiration of a 30 Day Notice of Termination of month to month tenancy.
Holdover-fault proceedings- These are proceedings in which a landlord claims that its commercial tenant violated a substantial obligation of its tenancy, i.e. Subleasing, illegal activities, unauthorized renovations, violation of Certificate of Occupancy, etc. If a commercial tenant receives a Notice to Cure as a prerequisite to a Holdover Proceeding, due to the peculiarities of commercial landlord and tenant law, it is necessary that the tenant apply to the Supreme Court for a “stay”. The stay a tolls the time to cure the alleged breach of lease until a determination can be made by the court as to whether or not the commercial tenant has violated the lease. By obtaining a Supreme Court stay the tenant is given the opportunity to attempt to salvage its commercial tenancy. This type of stay is often referred to as a ‘Yellowstone Injunction”.

We are very experienced Commercial Tenant Attorneys and have successfully represented Commercial Tenants in numerous situations, including lease negotiations, in Landlord and Tenant Court and in Supreme Court. We have defended thousands of eviction proceedings. We offer complimentary consultations.

Please contact our office at 212-921-1600 to schedule a complimentary no-obligation consultation.

Demolition Application by Your Landlord-When Your Landlord wants to evict you so that he can demolish the building that you live in.

There are times when landlords attempt to evict tenants from their apartment for the purpose of demolishing an existing building so as to replace it. Although the law does provide mechanisms for the landlord to achieve this goal, the law also provides tenants with many defenses and opportunities to disprove the landlord’s claim CHANGE COMMA TO PERIOD Tenants have the opportunity to oppose and challenge the demolition application of their landlord both, administratively, before the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) and in court so as to prevent the landlord from achieving this goal. Tenants will often form a Tenant Group or Association so as to unite their opposition to their landlord’s demolition application. We are very experienced in successfully opposing demolition applications by landlords on behalf of individual tenants as well as on behalf of tenant groups and tenant associations. SHOULD ONLY BE ONE PERIOD

Even if successful in its demolition application, it would take the landlord many years to achieve its goal. We can often times successfully cause the landlord’s application to be denied, thereby preventing the demolition. Therefore in most cases, the landlord must offer large “life changing” buy-outs to its tenants.

We are very experienced in negotiating such buy-outs and relocations at the landlord’s expense.

Due to the fact that Demolition proceedings are very complicated and settlements often positively life changing, tenants should not attempt to defend such applications or to negotiate settlements on their own. Tenants should consult with and obtain attorneys to properly represent their interests.

We are very experienced in representing individual tenants, tenant groups and tenant associations in opposing demolition applications. We have obtained multi million dollar settlements on behalf of tenants whose landlords apply to demolish their buildings and have successfully prevented numerous demolitions.

We offer complimentary consultations and you are welcome to schedule your complimentary-no obligation consultation by calling us at 212-921-1600.

DHCR -Division of Housing & Community Renewal. Information & Representation

The DHCR is the state agency with jurisdiction over all Rent Stabilized and Rent Controlled apartments. Generally, an apartment is Rent Controlled if continually occupied prior to June 1971. An apartment is rent stabilized if there are not less than six apartments in the building or if the owner of the building is receiving a tax abatement. If you are not sure of your apartments status, you may contact our office to determine such status.

The DHCR is charged with administratively protecting tenants from harassment by a landlord. The DHCR also handles rent overcharge complaints and situations in which landlords refuse to offer renewal leases.

For Rent Controlled Tenancies, it is the DHCR which is charged with determining whether a Rent Controlled Tenant may be evicted for Owner Occupancy purposes. For Owner Occupancy of a Rent Controlled Apartment, an Owner must prove “Immediate and Compelling Necessity” for the particular apartment at issue. If a Tenant is at least 62 years old, disabled or in occupancy for over 20 years, even if successful, the owner must relocate the tenant to a comparable apartment at the same or lower rent and the tenant’s rent controlled tenancy will continue and rights remain in place.

Due to the fact that DHCR proceedings are very complicated, tenants should not attempt to represent themselves at the DHCR, but instead they should consult with and obtain attorneys to properly represent their interests. We offer complimentary consultations and you are welcome to schedule your complimentary-no obligation consultation by calling us at 212-921-1600.