Cross-Bracing Installation Leads to Partial Rent Abatement

A movie theater tenant's lease gave an owner access to its space at reasonable times to make repairs and improvements. The owner entered the space without consent and installed floor-to-ceiling cross-bracing between two columns. The cross-bracing occupied only 12 square feet of the over-15,000-square-foot space. The tenant stopped paying rent, claiming that the owner had partially evicted it from its space by installing the cross-bracing without its consent.

A New York appeals court ruled that the owner had partially evicted the tenant from its space. Although the lease permitted the owner to enter the space at reasonable hours to make alterations, it didn't authorize the owner to permanently prevent the tenant from using any portion of its space. Though the typical tenant remedy for a partial eviction is a total rent abatement, the court reasoned that “a more realistic remedy” was needed because the tenant was deprived of only a small area. The court decided that the tenant was entitled to a partial rent abatement in proportion to the injury it suffered by losing 12 square feet. The court ordered a hearing to determine that amount [Eastside Exhibition Corp. v. 210 E. 86th St. Corp.].