Tenants Claim Breach of Lease

London Terrace Gardens v. Various Tenants: 1998 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3358 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. App. Div. 3/31/98).

Property Owner Cuts Costs

      A New York apartment owner arranged for his tenants to have use of a neighboring apartment community's pool, in return for a fee that he paid. But the owner later claimed the cost was to high and ended the arrangement, which meant that the tenants at his apartment community no longer had access to a pool.

Tenants Withhold Rent

      Some tenants complained that the landlord had breached their lease by changing the terms and stopped paying rent. Instead of paying the owner, they paid their rent (a total of $52,500) into a special escrow account in court.

Owner sued to evict 

      Before the trial, the owner and the residents worked out an agreement for the owner to recover the rent owed – if the tenants could again have access to the pool. So the owner worked out a deal for the tenants to use the pool again.

      However, the tenants asked the court to return their money that was still in escrow, "since their pool hours had been reduced". The continuing dispute resulted in a trial of fact.

Landlord Recovers Rent

      The court found that the tenant's pool hours were the same as they had been previously. So it ordered that the owner get the money

[London Terrace Gardens v. Various Tenants]