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The Pioneer Building
41 Flatbush Avenue
Suite 1
Brooklyn, New York 11217-1160
(646) 822-1805
mmaratto@itkowitz.com
Michelle Itkowitz is the owner and founder of Itkowitz PLLC and she has been practicing commercial and complex-residential landlord and tenant litigation in the City of New York for over 25 years. Michelle represents BOTH landlords and tenants. Michelle is a litigator and a consultant, but she does not work on transactions.
Michelle spends her days working on the following. Michelle works on pretty much anything having to do with Rent Stabilization, including but not limited to: Rent Stabilization coverage issues; non-primary residence; succession rights; owner’s use proceedings; chronic non-payment of rent; rent overcharges; substantial rehabilitation; preferential rents; illegal sublets; and 421-a and J-51 Rent Stabilization. Michelle does extensive co-living consulting. Michelle works on commercial landlord and tenant litigation, including good guy guaranty enforcement and defense, Yellowstone Injunctions, and commercial lease build out disputes. Michelle handles the landlord and tenant aspects of development projects. Michelle represents residential tenants in buyouts. Michelle helps to clean up “hairy” buildings and apartments with chronic landlord and tenant problems. Michelle works on matters having to do with short-term leasing problems (like Airbnb). Michelle works on matters involving special types of apartments, such as SRO’s (single room occupancy), luxury apartments, co-op apartments, and Loft Law (interim multiple dwelling) apartments. Michelle deals with all kinds of occupancy issues, regarding roommates, family members, subtenants, and running a business in an apartment. Michelle also is experienced in general commercial litigation and appeals. The forums Michelle finds herself in most frequently are the New York State Supreme Court, the Landlord and Tenant Parts of the New York City Civil Court, and the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal.
Michelle is a pioneer of Legal Project Management, a system by which project management principles are imposed upon the practice of law.
Michelle creates and shares original and useful content on landlord and tenant law in the City of New York, through numerous articles, books, lectures, and continuing legal education presentations. Michelle was honored to recently become one of three co-authors of the New York State Bar Association’s treatise, New York Residential Landlord-Tenant Law and Procedure, a 652-page essential resource that covers the fundamentals of residential landlord-tenant law and the procedural mechanics in landlord-tenant disputes. Michelle also writes the commercial lease remedies and good guy guaranty litigation chapters for the New York State Bar Association’s Commercial Leasing treatise. Michelle is frequently (if not always accurately) quoted in the press on a variety of landlord and tenant issues. Every three years, Michelle develops a fresh multi-part continuing legal education curriculum for Lawline entitled “Landlord and Tenant Litigation in New York”. Lawline named Michelle as one of their top female faculty. Michelle is also an instructor and blogger on the Tenant Learning Platform.
The other groups that Michelle has written for and/or presented to include: Lorman Education Services; Rossedale CLE; Clear Law Institute; The New York State Bar Association, Real Property Section; The Association of the Bar of the City of New York; The New York Women’s Bar Association; Women Attorneys in Real Estate; The Appraisal Institute; The Columbia Society of Real Estate Appraisers; Michal Landsman’s Key Strategies for Real Estate Investors book; LandlordsNY; The Habitat Group; Bushwick Daily; Thompson Reuters; The Cooperator; Argo Management. See our Blog and Booklets pages to get an idea of the breadth of Michelle’s work over the years. And check our Events page to see Michelle’s upcoming engagements.
Michelle is immensely proud that Itkowitz PLLC was awarded its NYS Women Business Enterprise Certification by the Empire State Development Corp. Michelle’s eponymous law firm is one of the largest women-owned law firms, by revenue, in the state.
Michelle is admitted to practice in New York State and the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 1989 from Union College and a Juris Doctor in 1992 from Brooklyn Law School. She began her legal career at Cullen & Dykman.
There are many ways to keep up with Michelle. Subscribe to Michelle’s email list, and receive her popular, in-depth articles on all aspects of landlord and tenant law in New York City. And you can always see where Michelle is speaking next on the Events section of the website.
Feel free to contact Michelle; she would be happy to speak to you.