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Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Vacates Last Tenant in Building After Forced to Bring Tenant to Court to Sign Lease

When a landlord sought Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.’s help after his rent-stabilized tenant avoided her obligation to pay rent and refused to sign a new lease, the attorneys at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. successfully, and creatively, defended the landlord and obtained a buyout on the eve of a jury trial.

The attorneys at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. determined that the landlord’s best option to bring the tenant into compliance with her lease was to bring a holdover case first, rather than a simple case centered on her nonpayment of rent. This strategy would force the tenant to sign a new lease. Once the tenant was in compliance with her lease, the landlord could then commence a case for the nonpayment of rent.

The attorneys at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. acted quickly and served the tenant with a fifteen-day notice for failure to renew her lease. The tenant imprudently ignored the notice and the case was scheduled for a court appearance. Once the holdover case was argued before the judge, the attorneys at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. swiftly obtained a favorable decision against the tenant. The court ruled in the landlord’s favor, forcing the tenant to sign a new lease to the tenant’s dismay. Once the lease was signed, a nonpayment case was then quickly commenced in an effort to recover months of arrears from the delinquent tenant.

In an unusual turn of events, while preparing to prove our nonpayment case, thus disallowing the tenant to live rent-free any longer, the tenant demanded a jury for her nonpayment case, deciding that a jury may be more sympathetic to her failure to pay rent. The attorneys at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. rose to the challenge, preparing vigorously and serving the tenant motions, briefs, notices to admit, and subpoenas in preparation for a jury trial. At each pre-trial court appearance, the tenant was continuously deflated, as each motion and notice to admit argued by the attorneys at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. was granted in favor of the landlord.

The tenant knew she was no match for the attorneys at Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. and soon submitted. On the eve of the jury trial, the tenant agreed to surrender her apartment in exchange for a minuscule buyout.

This strategy resulted in the last rent-stabilized tenant vacating the building. Christopher Halligan and Jamie Schare Friedland represented the client in court, while Dov Treiman drafted the papers.

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