Thirty-five years ago, the Court of Appeals issued its landmark decision in Chinatown Apartments v. Chu Cho Lam.1 In that case, the court held that the landlord’s failure to cite in its notice to cure (used as a predicate to termination of the lease) the specific lease provision which the landlord claimed was being violated, was a fatal defect requiring the dismissal of the summary holdover proceeding based on the offending notice. The Court of Appeals ruled as follows:

The deficiency in the notice arises from its failure to cite any specific prohibition in the lease which had been violated by the construction of the ‘cube.’ Although several covenants of the lease were mentioned in the notice, none of the cited clauses prohibited the erection of a freestanding structure such as that built by respondent. Since respondent could not be expected to take remedial action by removing the ‘cube’ unless his landlord first demonstrated that such remedial action was required by the lease, the omission in the notice must be considered a fatal defect. Inasmuch as service of a proper notice of intention to terminate occupancy was a condition precedent to the termination of the tenancy under the lease, the deficiency in the notice deprived petitioner of a predicate for reclaiming possession of the premises. Accordingly, the petition to dispossess was properly dismissed.2

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