Category Archives: Real Estate

Buyer Sues For Specific Performance of Ralph Avenue Contract

Did Stipulation Adjourning Closing Create a TOE Date?

In 2010,  Edmund Lashley entered into a contract of sale with BDL Real Estate Development Corp. for 1474  Ralph Avenue in Brooklyn. Lashley had been leasing one of two buildings located on the property for use as an auto body repair shop since 2007. The contract did not contain a closing date. Sometime after the parties entered into the contract, BDL commenced a landlord-tenant proceeding against Lashley, which the parties settled in a stipulation dated February 16, 2011. Paragraph 2 of the stipulation provided that “[i]n settlement and satisfaction of all claims by [Lashley], and in consideration of [Lashley] closing title on the purchase of 1474 Ralph Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, no later than March 31, 2011, [BDL] waives the rent due for July 2010.” The closing never occurred.

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Purchaser Sues For Specific Performance of $900k Hegeman Ave Property Sale

Court Determines If Seller Validly Cancelled Contract/Keeps $70k Deposit

On December 21, 2016, Euclid Burgan and Bernadette Burgan entered into a written contract with Hegeman Plaza LLC to sell the property at 513 Hegeman Avenue in Brooklyn for $900,000.00. Samuel Schwartz signed the contract as the sole member of Plaza. A down payment of $70,000.00 was made upon execution.

The contract was contingent upon Plaza obtaining a written mortgage commitment in the amount of $900,000.00 within 45 days from the date of contract. Moreover, Plaza was prohibited from assigning the contract to a third party without the Burgans’ written consent. On March 6, 2017, an addendum was signed and added to the contract which documented the Burgans’ intent to utilize the transaction as an Internal Revenue Code § 1031 tax-deferred property exchange. The addendum required Plaza to cooperate with the Burgans to complete the 1031 exchange.

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Purchaser Sues For Specific Performance of $900k Hegeman Ave Property Sale

Court Determines If Seller Validly Cancelled Contract/Keeps $70k Deposit

On December 21, 2016, Euclid Burgan and Bernadette Burgan entered into a written contract with Hegeman Plaza LLC to sell the property at 513 Hegeman Avenue in Brooklyn for $900,000.00. Samuel Schwartz signed the contract as the sole member of Plaza. A down payment of $70,000.00 was made upon execution.

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East Edge Seeks License to Nedd’s Adjacent Property

Court Adjudicates Disputed RPAPL  881 Application

East Edge BK, LLC moved by Order to Show Cause for an Order, pursuant to RPAPL § 881, granting East Edge access to the adjacent premises of Audrey Nedd, located at 78 East 53rd Street, Brooklyn, New York 11203, to install safety protections.

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Owner Sells Rundown Building to Sister’s Friend For $100

Seller Has Remorse and Sues Attorney For Malpractice

In March 20, 2017,  Michael Mamone sold a commercial building to Robert Buttiglione, a friend of Mamone’s sister, for $100.00 and attorneys fees. The contract of sale, the deed and the closing documents were all signed on March 20, 2017. That day the deed was given to Mamone’s attorney, Barbara Diehl, for recording. The deed was never recorded. When Buttiglione insisted Diehl record the deed she refused claiming her client, Mamone, had reconsidered and refused to consent to the recording of the deed.

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New Leaching Field Encroached Almost 2,000 SF on Neighboring 11 Acre Property

Small Claims Court Determines Amount of Damages Due to Unintentional Taking

In his small claims complaint, James K. McCormack sought $3,480.00 for an alleged encroachment of approximately twenty feet onto his property resulting from a new leach field associated with repairs to the septic system on the neighboring property owned by Derrick and Cystalyn Miller. The complaint stated that “this ruined the value of the property for me and an encroachment as such would make it difficult to sell my property and reduce its value. I want the appraised value of the property the leach field is on and its surrounding area (79′ × 25′) and the cost to separate it from the rest of my property.”

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Residential Landlords Beware 14 Day Rule of GOL 7-108[e]

Did Failure to Comply Result in Forfeiture of Damage Claim?

Michael Gordon was a tenant of Arcadian Corp. N.V. at 160 Central Park South where she owns a condominium unit. He brought a small claims action for damages Arcadian failed to return his security deposit after he moved out on March 26, 2021. There was a dispute as to the date he vacated because he did not remove his furniture until May 25.

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State Takes Part of Rockland Co. Strip Mall By Eminent Domain

Was Owner Entitled to Substantial Los of Space/“Severance”? 

When I took the prep course for the New York State Bar Examination 1969, micro-subjects– like eminent domain, zoning and the like–were mentioned and reviewed only in passing or not at all. Over the years I have learned that friends and colleagues turned those singular topics (worthy of only cursory review when studying for the “Bar”) into full-time and successful careers. And that each such area has a specific jurisprudential legacy of constitutional, statutory and decisional law. As a recent case illustrates, the “taking by eminent domain” of a small portion of a large suburban shopping center involved and invoked just one substrate of that complicated legacy–“severance damages”.

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Lexington Ave. Apt. Owner Sues Joe & The Juice for Nuisance

Court Decides Whether Facts Justify Preliminary Injunction

Grecia Gross owns shares of stock in the building corporation appurtenant to cooperative apartment 2A and is also the lessee under a proprietary lease. The building is located on the corner of Lexington Avenue and is directly above the 4/5/6 subway line. The apartment is located directly above a ground floor commercial space leased to Joe & The Juice since February 2018. Joe & The Juice is a coffee shop/juice bar, which utilizes blenders and coffee grinders as necessary components of its business.

Since October 2018, Gross asserted that her apartment had been “plagued with excessive, disruptive noise from” Joe & The Juice consisting of “incredibly loud bass music, excessive banging, and extremely loud whining machine noises … nearly every single morning” from approximately 7:00 a.m. until after 9:00 p.m.  Gross alleged the noise prevented her from being able to sleep or rest, make telephone calls, and caused her headaches, undue stress and anxiety. Gross sought to address the issue by speaking with the store’s employees, requesting remedial efforts by the board of the corporation, and hiring an acoustical consulting service company, Acoustilog Inc.  to perform sound testing and acoustical recordings from April 1, 2022 through April 11, 2022.

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Commission Suit On Purchase by Assignment of 3rd Party Contract

Commission Suit On Purchase by Assignment of 3rd Party Contract

Was Broker Procuring Cause of Sale– Direct and Proximate Link?

Kassin Sabbagh Realty LLC sought a brokerage commission from 125th St. Holding Co. LLC and 125th Street Bopaz LLC on a transaction of which it alleges it was the procuring cause. The Manhattan property located at 51 East 125th Street. Sabbagh made David Israel aware of the property on November 6, 2018. Subsequently, on February 25, 2019, Israel contacted Kassin about making an offer but Kassin informed Israel that the proposed offer was too low because the seller was seeking $13 million. Before Holding/Bopaz were able to make an offer, the seller entered into a contract to sell the property to a third party. However, before a closing took place, Kassin, acting as Holing/Bopaz’ broker, set up a meeting between Israel, the seller and the third-party purchaser. At the March 28, 2019 meeting, Kassin alleged that Israel proposed acquiring the property through the assignment of the third-party purchase agreement. Instead, Israel alleged that through the efforts of a different broker, it was able to purchase the property through the assignment of the third-party purchase agreement.

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