admin, Author at itkowitz

Rent Stabilization Due Diligence for Multifamily Properties and Predictions for 2019

February 15, 2019 Last month, Michelle Itkowitz spoke on a panel at a meeting of WARE (Women Attorneys in Real Estate). The meeting was designed to discuss the challenges and opportunities for real estate practitioners in the coming year. Michelle spoke about “Rent Stabilization Due Diligence for Multifamily Properties”. Here is an interesting excerpt from her presentation: I.… Continue reading Rent Stabilization Due Diligence for Multifamily Properties and Predictions for 2019

Regular Monitoring of Guaranty Litigation is Critical

February 3, 2019 In my Teaching and Publishing blog, I just got done saying that, “suing a restaurant tenant guarantor post-possession is often a huge waste of time.” My reasoning for that was three-fold: 1. Most guarantors are just as broke as the single-asset restaurant corporation that was the defunct tenant. 2. If the… Continue reading Regular Monitoring of Guaranty Litigation is Critical

Suing a Good Guy Guarantor of a Restaurant Tenant Post-Possession

On January 16, 2019, Michelle Itkowitz taught an accredited continuing legal education (CLE) program for the Clear Law Institute, entitled “How to Handle Frequent Defaults Under Restaurant Leases”. Here is a full link to the materials. Here is an interesting excerpt from the program: Suing a Restaurant Tenant Guarantor Post-Possession – Often a Huge Waste of Time I… Continue reading Suing a Good Guy Guarantor of a Restaurant Tenant Post-Possession

Itkowitz PLLC Helps Tenant Get a Physical Culture Establishment Special Permit from the Board of Standards and Appeals for a Luxury Spa

December 12, 2018 As I have said before in these pages, we don’t do a lot of leasing anymore. I like to concentrate on litigation and consulting. But occasionally an old client of my husband and partner will insist on him doing their lease or lease renewal. In this case, we represented a luxury spa looking… Continue reading Itkowitz PLLC Helps Tenant Get a Physical Culture Establishment Special Permit from the Board of Standards and Appeals for a Luxury Spa

A Landlord’s Right to Access a Tenant’s Apartment in Emergencies and for Repairs Laws and Best Practices

On December 12, 2018, Michelle Itkowitz conducted a webinar for Vendome Media, the publishers of "Apartment Law Insider", entitled "A Landlord’s Right to Access a Tenant’s Apartment in Emergencies and for Repairs Laws and Best Practices". Here is a link to the materials prepared for the program. Here is an excerpt from the materials: A. Statute Regarding Access… Continue reading

When a Residential Owner Needs Access For Building-Wide Work, Which Will Be Highly Disruptive and Which Will Take a Long Time – A Case Study

November 25, 2018 I represented a client in an interesting case.[1]The building was in Queens and there was a structural problem. The bricks on a load-bearing wall were cracking. Owner had a reputable licensed engineer engaged, who had rendered a report about the crack and a licensed contractor lined up to repair the… Continue reading When a Residential Owner Needs Access For Building-Wide Work, Which Will Be Highly Disruptive and Which Will Take a Long Time – A Case Study

Itkowitz PLLC Helps Get MBE Subcontractor Paid on Construction Job

November 4, 2018 I tend to only write in these pages about our work in my area of core-competency, New York City landlord and tenant litigation. Here, however, is something a little different. As you may know, Itkowitz PLLC is a New York State Certified Women Owned Business Enterprise. Recently, we did some legal… Continue reading Itkowitz PLLC Helps Get MBE Subcontractor Paid on Construction Job

Before Being Your Litigator on a Case, Your Landlord and Tenant Attorney Should First Be Your Consultant

October 28, 2018 On October 25th 2018, Michelle Itkowitz spoke on a panel at the LandlordsNY Symposium. The panel was about how it takes a team to properly manage a building, especially in times of crisis. Michelle explained how landlord-and-tenant lawyers should only be a small part of a larger team when it comes to dealing with illegal Airbnb, non-primary… Continue reading Before Being Your Litigator on a Case, Your Landlord and Tenant Attorney Should First Be Your Consultant

When an Illegal Airbnb Case Makes Short Work of a Non-Primary Residence Situation

October 14, 2018 As I have often written about in these pages, Non-Primary Residence cases are hard cases, for landlords and for tenants. I have also written extensively in these pages about evictions for illegal Airbnb. In this blog post I am connecting the two concepts. It has been my observation that many non-primary… Continue reading When an Illegal Airbnb Case Makes Short Work of a Non-Primary Residence Situation

You Don’t Need to Chase Your Previous Landlord to Get a Rent Abatement – Get the Abatement from the Building’s New Owner!

September 30, 2018: This Q&A post originally appeared on the Tenant Learning Platform blog, where Michelle Maratto Itkowitz is an instructor and guest blogger. Tenant’s Question: I’m a tenant of a Rent Stabilized apartment in Brooklyn. The building was just sold and now I have a new landlord. The previous landlord of this building, however,… Continue reading You Don’t Need to Chase Your Previous Landlord to Get a Rent Abatement – Get the Abatement from the Building’s New Owner!

Another Way to Avoid Treble Damages in Housing Court

September 23, 2018 Speaking of treble damages on a Rent Stabilization overcharge claim (my last blog post was on a similar topic), this is an interesting story. I took a nonpayment case over, on behalf of landlord, from one of the usual suspects in Housing Court. This is what I have referred to in these… Continue reading Another Way to Avoid Treble Damages in Housing Court

One Way to Avoid Treble Damages on a New Overcharge Complaint – Just Do the Math…

September 2, 2018 A landlord bought a small, residential building in Manhattan. Several months after the purchase, a tenant, who incidentally was not paying his rent, hit landlord with a DHCR Rent Overcharge Complaint. Landlord brought the case to me for a Legal Project Management Analysis. I determined that the tenant had, indeed, been… Continue reading