Opinion
May 10, 1949.
Present — Peck, P.J., Dore, Cohn, Van Voorhis and Shientag, JJ.
Landlord-appellant's predecessor in title leased the westerly portion of the ground floor of the building at 336 East 28th Street, Borough of Manhattan, City of New York, to a tenant which occupied part of the demised premises for its own purposes and, before the termination of the lease, sublet the balance of said rental area to undertenants. The term of the lease has now expired, the tenant has surrendered possession of the part of the demised premises which it occupied, and the landlord-appellant seeks to evict the undertenants. The undertenants-respondents are entitled to the protection of the Commercial Rent Law ( Tighe v. Sinclair Refining Co., 274 App. Div. 22), and we think that this is true notwithstanding that said undertenants occupy but a portion of the entire rental area. The attorney for the undertenants-respondents upon the argument expressed a willingness on the part of his clients to absorb the entire rental area at the same rental previously charged for the entire space and, in any event, the court should readily be able to apportion a correct rental to the part of the rental area now occupied by the undertenants. Order unanimously affirmed, with $20 costs and disbursements to the respondents.