Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

Hello,

I am not at all very law savvy and don't have all the facts about this just yet, so I apologize in advance if my terminology is off.

My father owns a small building complex with a dry cleaning store, and it appears his tenants stopped paying their utility bills for about 10 months amongst other things, forcing him to terminate their lease last week.

The tenants ended up leaving much of the heavy machinery there that they apparently did not own/pay off but were I guess were under lease/bank loan by the tenants. Now my father wants to turn the store around and rent it out to others, but needs to first get rid of the old machinery sitting in the store. He is not sure who actually owns the machinery, however, and can't get in touch with his former tenants to find out. My father had never signed any co-agreement to lease/rent/own the machinery.

He wants to know if he can legally just can just move/throw out the machines when they are technically not his property, and if so, if it his responsibility to pay someone to move the machines out. Can anyone help?


Asked on 10/29/11, 11:04 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Markowitz Michael A. Markowitz, PC

Q. He wants to know if he can legally just can just move/throw out the machines when they are technically not his property, and if so, if it his responsibility to pay someone to move the machines out.

A. I will assume that the tenants abandoned the property and demonstrated their intent by delivering the key to the landlord.

If the dry cleaning machinery uses perc, you may have to obtain a permit to remove the equipment. More information may be found at: http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/8567.html.

Since your father never signed any agreement concerning the machines, he does not have to notify the tenant or any company that may have a lien on the units.

Concerning the payment to remove the machines, your father would have to make the payment. Then, depending on the terms of the lease, you may have a cause of action against the tenants to reimburse him for the expense.

Mike.

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Answered on 10/31/11, 5:59 am


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