138 Misc. 401 | City of New York Municipal Court | 1930
Plaintiff sues as assignee of one Blackman, who through assignment of a certain lease was in possession of the premises known as Belleclaire Hotel. Blackman leased the premises to one Guzardi, who assigned the balance of his term to the Manhattan Island Hotel Corporation. This company made a sublease of a portion of the premises, namely, the stores on the ground floor of the hotel, to three individuals, who in turn assigned their lease to the defendant. Thereafter the Manhattan Island Hotel Corporation assigned the remainder of its term to Snajov Realties, Inc., which in turn leased the entire premises to Belleclaire Hotel Corporation. The defendant attorned to the Belleclaire Hotel Corporation. This suit is for the rent for the month of August, 1928, reserved in the lease from the Manhattan Island Hotel Corporation to defendant’s assignors. Admittedly this rent has not been paid to any one. The defense is that there is no privity between the parties giving the plaintiff any rights. To clarify the issue a statement of the position of the parties would be in order. Blackman may be regarded as the paramount landlord, the Belleclaire Hotel Corporation as his tenant. The defendant held a portion of the premises under the Belleclaire Hotel Corporation for the entire unexpired portion of the latter’s lease. It is now well settled in this jurisdiction that as between the paramount landlord and a subtenant a sublease of the entire remaining term of the original lessee operates as an assignment and creates privity between the landlord and the subtenant. (Stewart v. Long Island R. R., 102 N. Y. 601; O’Connell v. Sugar Products Co., 114 Misc. 540.) This means that the landlord is entitled to proceed for the rent reserved in his lease against the subtenant, even though a different rent has been contracted for by the subtenant, “ and the assignee, so long as he continues to hold the estate,