Section 3 of the Commercial Rent Law (L. 1945, ch. 3, as last amd. by L. 1947, ch. 822) reads in part as follows: "Every landlord * * * shall furnish each tenant with an accurate statement of the amount of his emergency rent, and in the case of commercial space not used or occupied on March first, nineteen hundred forty-three, such statement shall be furnished within twenty days after such rent shall be fixed or determined pursuant to subdivision (e) * * *. If a landlord shall fail, refuse or neglect to furnish any tenant with such statement within the time specified, no rent accruing shall be collectible * * * during the period he is in default * * *". This section has been interpreted to mean that a landlord, who is in default in furnishing such statement, does not forfeit his rent, but the remedies for collecting unpaid rent are withheld until such statement is furnished. ( Iago Realty Corp. v. Marmin Garage Corp., 186 Misc. 478, 480.) The part of section 3 above quoted is similar to section 218 of the General Corporation Law, which provides in part that "A foreign corporation * * * doing business in this state shall not maintain any action in this state upon any contract made by it in this state, unless before the making of such contract it shall have obtained a certificate of authority."
The landlords failed to furnish the tenant with the statement required by section 3 of the Commercial Rent Law and hence, as provided by this section, "no rent accruing shall be collectible by such landlord during the period he is in default." ( Iago Realty Corp. v. Marmin Garage Corp., 186 Misc. 478; Apfelbaum v. Klutch, 186 Misc. 883; Rogers Place Corporation v. Medalie, 59 N.Y.S.2d 819.) The tenant's counterclaim for $250, the excess over the "Emergency rent," paid for the month of January, 1946, is allowed ( Silver v. Comninous, 60 N.Y.S.2d 123).
This court does not believe the law intended a complete forfeiture of all rent actually collected. In the case of Iago Realty Corp. v. Marmin Garage Corp. ( 186 Misc. 478), it was held that "under statute providing that if landlord should fail to furnish tenant with timely statement of amount of emergency rent, no rent accruing should be collectible during period of default, landlord who delayed in furnishing statement did not forfeit right to rent, but was merely precluded from collecting unpaid rent until required statement was furnished. (L. 1945, ch. 3, §§ 3, 4, as amd.
As soon as the statement was served it was revived. This point was decided in Iago Realty Corp. v. Marmin Garage Corp., SCHIMMEL, J. ( 186 Misc. 478) and I think the reasoning of that case sound and the conclusion correct. See, also, Apfelbaum v. Klutch, 186 Misc. 883, and Alpha Syndicate v. Horn, 186 Misc. 937. — [REP.