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It Can Never Hurt To Ask; Itkowitz PLLC gets a Buyout for a Residential Tenant

September 4, 2015 There are landlords out there who will never pay a tenant a penny to leave an apartment under any circumstances, no matter how beneficial it might be to get the unit to turn over. That is not necessarily a crazy position to take. Be that as it may, if you are… Continue reading It Can Never Hurt To Ask; Itkowitz PLLC gets a Buyout for a Residential Tenant

Itkowitz PLLC Represented Borrower in $156,000,000.00 Refinance of Iconic McGraw Hill Building in Midtown

August 31, 2015 Itkowitz PLLC closed out the month of August 2015 with representation of the borrower on the completion of a $156,000,000.00 refinance of a landmark mid-town building. Completed in 1931 for McGraw-Hill to serve as the publishing firm’s headquarters for several decades, the 590,000-square-foot building also housed corporate offices, warehouse, retail, manufacturing,… Continue reading Itkowitz PLLC Represented Borrower in $156,000,000.00 Refinance of Iconic McGraw Hill Building in Midtown

New Commercial Landlord Goes to Nonpayment Petition on Small Amount of Outstanding Rent and Large Amount of Principal

July 24, 2015 We recently represented an entity that had just purchased a building in Manhattan. A number of the storefront retail tenants paid the rent late. One store, a telecom store, was perpetually two to three months late. Moreover, the store just never got around to paying the real estate tax escalations. The… Continue reading New Commercial Landlord Goes to Nonpayment Petition on Small Amount of Outstanding Rent and Large Amount of Principal

Tenants in Park Slope Defeat Owner Occupancy Case Because Tenant Turned 62 During the Pendency of the Proceeding

July 9, 2015 In this case, Itkowitz PLLC represented a family in a Rent Stabilized apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The family had lived in this apartment for this apartment for Thirty-Six (36) years. The landlord was refusing to renew the lease and was suing to evict tenant on the grounds that the owner… Continue reading Tenants in Park Slope Defeat Owner Occupancy Case Because Tenant Turned 62 During the Pendency of the Proceeding

Rent Stabilization Due Diligence for Multi-Family Acquisitions

July 2, 2015 On June 16, 2015 we introduced our Rent Stabilization Due Diligence product when Michelle Maratto Itkowitz led a great panel entitled, "Rent Stabilization Due Diligence for Multi-Family Acquisitions" at the Brooklyn Real Estate Summit. The old saying goes that the three most important things about real estate are: location, location, and location. Keeping that rule in… Continue reading

Protecting a Tenant Who Conducts Her Business from Her Apartment

June 26, 2015 Itkowitz PLLC recently represented a Rent Stabilized tenant in an apartment in a very nice Hell’s Kitchen townhouse. The building had just changed hands and the new owner was looking for ways to pressure the Rent Stabilized tenants in order to get them to move. There was not very much that the… Continue reading Protecting a Tenant Who Conducts Her Business from Her Apartment

Unlicensed Contractor Preying on Elderly in Queens — Thwarted

June 12, 2015 Itkowitz PLLC recently represented an elderly couple in Queens (87 and 84 years old survivors of concentration camps in Europe). They had a flood in their home due to a frozen water pipe, and hired a contractor to provide emergency services to clean up the mess. The contractor ended up doing… Continue reading Unlicensed Contractor Preying on Elderly in Queens — Thwarted

Key Provisions in Restaurant Leases — Collateral Reassignments

June 9, 2015 On June 9, 2015 Michelle Maratto Itkowitz and Jay B. Itkowitz presented a live Continuing Legal Education program entitled "Key Provisions in Restaurant Leases" for Lawline.com. Here is an excerpt from the materials: COLLATERAL REASSIGNMENTS Assuming Landlord grants consent to assign the lease and the restaurateur sells the business, what is… Continue reading

Tenant Putting Satellite Antenna on Roof Without Landlord’s Permission — What Can Be Done?

June 5, 2015 June 5, 2015: This post originally appeared on the LandlordsNY blog, where Michelle Maratto Itkowitz is the "Legal Expert". Question: “I have an issue with satellite dishes on my property (Dish and DirectTV) I have made an effort to contact Direct TV to see who installed them (contractor) but no luck. I am planning on going… Continue reading

THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE IN THAT APARTMENT — Materials prepared for two LIVE “L & Tea Time with Michelle” episodes

May 18, 2015 Michelle Maratto Itkowitz hosted two LIVE "L & Tea Time with Michelle" episodes on May 12, 2015 at LandlordsNY Property Management Symposium at New World Stages. Michelle created the below booklet for the Symposium entitled -- THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE IN THAT APARTMENT! -- Who, besides the tenant on the lease, has a right to be… Continue reading

Landlord Loses Back Rent Case Due to E-Discovery Violations Including Failure to Hire Tech Vendor

May 11, 2015 Itkowitz PLLC has obtained the dismissal of a landlord’s case for back rent in Supreme Court after the owner repeatedly refused to comply with demands to produce e-discovery (disclosure of electronically stored information, such as emails). The case originated when the tenant felt compelled to leave an apartment for… Continue reading

Grasping the Good Guy Guaranty in New York — Lawline CLE

April 21, 2015 On March 17, 2015, Jay B. Itkowitz and Michelle Maratto Itkowitz taught a Continuing Legal Education course entitled, Grasping the Good Guy Guaranty in New York for Lawline.com. The course contains a lot of new material and was presented in an engaging conversational style. We were very pleased to see that this course already has a 96% approval rating. This is… Continue reading