Summary
In Vance v. Century Apts. Assoc. (61 N.Y.2d 716, 718), it was held that section 226-b, as amended, was to be applied to facts arising before its effective date and that "release from the lease is the sole remedy of a tenant where the landlord has unreasonably withheld consent to the tenant's request to assign the lease".
Summary of this case from Levai v. Alcoma CorporationOpinion
Argued December 13, 1983
Decided January 12, 1984
Appeal from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the First Judicial Department, PETER J. McQUILLAN, J.
Menachem J. Kastner and Mark Abramowitz for appellants.
Robert D. Goldstein and Jeffrey R. Metz for respondents.
MEMORANDUM.
The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, with costs, and the certified question answered in the affirmative.
Under the provisions of the new section 226-b of the Real Property Law, whose provisions are expressly applicable to all pending actions and proceedings, release from the lease is the sole remedy of a tenant where the landlord has unreasonably withheld consent to the tenant's request to assign the lease. Without deciding the reasonableness of the defendants landlords' refusal to consent to the attempted assignment, we note that plaintiffs tenants have accepted defendants' offer to be released from the lease and, therefore, they have received all the relief the Real Property Law provides.
We have considered plaintiffs' other claims and find them to be without merit.
Chief Judge COOKE and Judges JASEN, JONES, WACHTLER, MEYER, SIMONS and KAYE concur in memorandum.
Order affirmed, etc.