Judge Katherine Levine
Landlord sued to recover $10,097 from Terrick for her alleged breach of an apartment lease. The landlord produced an original lease signed by Terrick and subsequent renewal leases under her name. She contended that while she signed the original lease to enable her friend Degouville to have a place to live, she never signed the renewal leases, claiming they were forged by Degouville. The court noted the original lease specifically provided that the tenant could not assign the lease or sublet the unit without the owner’s advance written consent to a request made by the tenant in accordance to Real Property Law §226-b. The court said Terrick never offered evidence she requested to sublease the unit in accordance to §226-b, nor proved a valid sublease existed. The court also found that based on the limited documents presented, the signatures on the renewal leases closely resembled Terrick’s signature on the original lease, declining to find the renewals were forged. It ruled a landlord has no legal duty to mitigate its damages when a tenant vacates before the lease term expires. Yet, as the landlord accepted Terrick’s surrender of the lease, and withheld the security deposit, the court awarded landlord only $5,926.
