Opinion
570367/05.
Decided June 22, 2006.
Landlord appeals from a final judgment of the Civil Court, New York County (Ulysses B. Leverett, J.), entered on or about February 28, 2005, after a nonjury trial, which dismissed the holdover petition, and from an order (same court and Judge), dated May 11, 2005, which denied landlord's motion to set aside the judgment and determined that tenant was entitled to attorneys' fees as the prevailing party.
Final judgment (Ulysses B. Leverett, J.), entered on or about February 28, 2005, reversed, petition reinstated and matter remanded for further proceedings, with $30 costs to abide the event. Order (Ulysses B. Leverett, J.), dated May 11, 2005, reversed, without costs, and the award of attorneys' fees vacated.
PRESENT: McCOOE, J.P., DAVIS, GANGEL-JACOB, JJ
The notice of nonrenewal was timely served by the landlord during the "window period" prior to the August 31, 2002 expiration of the stabilized renewal lease ( Ansonia Associates v. Rosenberg, 163 AD2d 101). That the renewal lease may have been belatedly offered to the tenant in August 2000 did not serve to retroactively alter the commencement and expiration dates of the lease term, or the applicable window period. Tenant executed the renewal lease without any exercise of his statutory option to choose the commencement date of the lease ( see 9 NYCRR 2523.5[a], [c][1]; South Park Associates, LLC., v. Toledano, 259 AD2d 306).
Inasmuch as Civil Court dismissed the petition after trial without making any factual findings on the ultimate issues in dispute, we remand for further proceedings, including a determination on the merits.
This constitutes the decision and order of the Court.