In Lewis v. Cathedral Parkway Towers , Joanne Lewis and her family resided in a subsidized apartment. In light of her family's size and composition, Lewis applied for a larger unit in the same building. When her application was approved, she moved her family out of the smaller unit and the landlord changed the locks and began to renovate the tenant's former residence.
When Lewis' son asserted a claim to the old unit and sought to be restored to that apartment, the New York County Civil Court granted that request. On appeal, the Appellate Term, First Department, reversed.
Since "there was a surrender by operation of law," Lewis' son -- who was only a " licensee " -- could not be restored. The AT1 indicated that "[w]here a tenant abandons possession, indicating an interest to yield his or her interest in the subject premises, and the landlord utilizes the premises in a manner inconsistent with the landlord-tenant relationship, a surrender will be inferred."
But what was there to infer?
We thought the surrender was pretty unequivocal.
For a copy of the Appellate Term's decision, please use this link: Lewis v. Cathedral Parkway Towers