In October 2024, Braverman Greenspun associate Drew Pakett secured a ruling from the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department in favor of his client, an Upper East Side co-op, in a dispute between the co-op and its commercial tenant over cold-water consumption in the commercial space.
In its ruling, the court declared that the parties’ commercial lease requires the tenant to pay for its cold-water consumption in the commercial space.
Although the commercial tenant predicated its refusal to pay for its cold-water consumption on the theory that such charges were included as part of its base rent, the co-op took the position that the lease permitted it to install a water meter to measure the consumption and charge back the commercial tenant for its consumption. Following the Appellate Division’s decision finding in favor of the co-op, the commercial tenant is now obligated to pay for its past cold-water consumption (which amounts have been placed in escrow and exceed $425,000) and must also pay for its cold-water consumption going forward.
A copy of the decision can be found here.