Opinion
April 21, 1952.
Appeal from Municipal Court, Borough of Brooklyn.
Present — Nolan, P.J., Carswell, Johnston, Adel and Schmidt, JJ.
The proceeding was based upon an agreement of lease fixing a rent in excess of the emergency rent, made with a former tenant. At the time said agreement was made, the Business Rent Law permitted such an agreement to be made between a landlord and the tenant who "used or occupied the same space on the effective date of this act." (L. 1945, ch. 314, § 4, as amd.) The tenant who made the agreement, one Keller, was not the tenant in possession on that date, but was the assignee of such tenant. Except for that fact the lease substantially complied with the provisions of the statute. The present tenant, in turn, is an assignee, through a mesne assignment, of the lease executed by Keller, and entered into possession of the leased premises on or about February 18, 1950. By the assignment of the lease, bearing that date, he assumed all the terms, covenants and conditions thereof, and has occupied the premises thereunder and paid the rent provided therein until February 1, 1951. At the time when the lease was assigned to appellant, the Business Rent Law had been amended, and although appellant was not the tenant who used or occupied the same space on the effective date of the act, he could have entered into an agreement with the landlord, fixing a rent in excess of the emergency rent, pursuant to the amended statute. We see no distinction in principle between the situation here disclosed and that which would have existed if appellant had made a new agreement, as he could have done, on February 18, 1950. Order of Appellate Term unanimously affirmed, with costs.