michelle, Author at itkowitz

When Representing Commercial Tenants, it Pays to Do the Heavy Lifting

January 31, 2024 In today’s story, I will tell you about a time in the not-so-distant past when I represented a commercial tenant in Manhattan, a yoga studio, which had fallen on hard times during the Pandemic, and just wanted out of its lease.* The building that the yoga studio was in was self-managed… Continue reading

Recovery of Use and Occupancy in Summary Proceedings

December 21, 2023 I am incredibly proud to be co-authors with the Hon. Gerald Lebovitz and Damon P. Howard, Esq. of the New York State Bar Association’s 2024 edition of the 436-page, 2,268-footnote “New York Residential Landlord-Tenant Law and Procedure” treatise. Here is a link to the table of contents. The e-book is available now… Continue reading

When tenant-lawyers pull the trigger on litigation too quickly they can derail their client’s housing goals.

October 28, 2023 According to the New York City Rent Guidelines Board 2023 Housing Supply Report, there are approximately an equal number of free-market (1,023,000) and Rent Stabilized (1,006,000) rental apartments in New York City. The hard part sometimes is knowing in which category an apartment is properly placed. This is so because there are… Continue reading

Enforcement of (and Defense Against) Good Guy Guaranties: Raising Tenant Defenses in a Guarantor Action

Updated September 7, 2023 (originally published March 10, 2023) On March 9, 2023, Michelle Itkowitz taught an accredited continuing legal education class for Lawline, entitled, “Enforcement of (and Defense Against) Good Guy Guaranties”. The program has received rave reviews (4.9 out of 5 stars, with 467 lawyers rating the program as of September 7, 2023!)… Continue reading

If you wait by the river long enough…$450K Buyout for Tenant with No Litigation

August 31, 2023 I represented a residential tenant who was in an apartment that was being treated as free market. The tenant came to me, not because he suspected he was Rent Stabilized, but because the new owner of the building was doing some illegal Airbnb, which was bothering the tenant and his family. Getting… Continue reading

Remedies for Commercial Tenant Monetary Defaults

July 31, 2023 Michelle Itkowitz contributes chapters to the New York State Bar Association's two-volume Commercial Leasing treatise. The Fourth Edition is due out shortly. One of Michelle’s chapters is entitled “Commercial Lease Remedies Analysis”. Below, is an except from that chapter. FAILURE TO PAY RENT OR ADDITIONAL RENT In the event of a monetary… Continue reading

Welcome to the Tenant Law Podcast!

June 30, 2023 Welcome to the Tenant Law Podcast, where we talk about new, interesting, and/or important legal cases affecting New York City tenants. Listen on Apple, Spotify, Google. Michelle Itkowitz is your host. Each episode is about 10 minutes long. First, we give you some background, so you have the context to understand the… Continue reading

When a medical office stops paying rent, closes its doors (with equipment and records still in the premises), and fails to communicate, what is a landlord to do?

May 31, 2023 My firm represented a landlord who had rented to a medical office. The lease was guaranteed personally by one of the doctors in the tenant-medical-practice. During the Pandemic, the medical office stopped operating, it went completely dark. The manager of the building in which the premises was located could see through the… Continue reading

Winning a Tenant a Rent Stabilized Apartment, a Forever Home

April 30, 2023 Last Fall, I won a trial on behalf of a residential tenant and secured him a Rent Stabilized apartment, a forever home. This was a 421a building being treated as a cooperative, which was really a rental building. My client was sued as a free-market tenant. By the end of the trial,… Continue reading

When A Good Guy Guarantor Does Everything Right and A Landlord Does Everything Wrong

March 31, 2023 My firm represented a guarantor of a commercial lease. The guaranty was a “Good Guy Guaranty”, whereby the guarantor could be released from liability for the defaulting tenant, if tenant gave landlord the proper notice and if tenant was current through the date of vacatur. Tenant was a single purpose entity, the… Continue reading

Co-Living Companies Taking Some More Heat as They Expand Rapidly in New York City Post-Pandemic

December 14, 2022 I have been writing about co-living in these pages before almost anyone had heard of it. One of my areas of core competency is co-living consulting. Co-living is an arrangement by which a landlord rents an apartment to a group of tenants, for at least thirty days, where the tenants occupy and… Continue reading

Co-Tenant Partitions and the Uniform Partition of Heir Property Act

November 27, 2022 Partition is any division of real property between co-owners, resulting in individual ownership of the interests of each. 24 N.Y. Jur. 2d Cotenancy and Partition § 116. Partition can be forced by an action between joint tenants or tenants in common for the division of their property between them, according to their… Continue reading