131 LLC v. AND DEMETRIS JONES (2026)

On February 15, 2018, defendants Deborah Jones and Demetris Jones (the Joneses) moved into 131 Vernon Avenue, Apartment 3 in Brooklyn after signing a lease with non-party Sepideh Homayoonfar, who fraudulently held herself out as the owner of the premises.¹

By petition dated April 22, 2023, 131 Vernon Elite LLC (Vernon Elite) commenced a holdover proceeding against all of the residents of 131 Vernon Avenue, including the Joneses, in Kings County Civil Court (the landlord-tenant action). On September 1, 2023, Vernon Elite commenced this action against these same residents, seeking judgment in the amount of $163,000, representing use and occupancy from September 1, 2017 (the Westchester County action).

On October 30, 2023, Vernon Elite entered into a stipulation with the defendants in the Westchester County action. The stipulation stated, in relevant part:

2. The Undersigned Defendants hereby consent that judgment may be entered pursuant to the terms of this Stipulation.

3. The claim of the Plaintiff, 131 VERNON ELITE LLC, is settled between the parties whereby the Defendants shall comply with their respective Stipulations hereto annexed as Exhibit . . . "C" (Jones) . . . as to each Defendant/tenant.

4. That provided the Defendants comply with their respective L/T Stipulation (s), [sic] hereto annexed . . . then this action shall be discontinued with prejudice, and the Plaintiff then waives all arrears, through the date of each Defendant's timely vacature [sic] of their respective apartment[s].

5. In the event that any Defendant breaches their L/T Stipulation, then the Plaintiff shall then file a Notice of Inquest to proceed on its Complaint, as to the Defendant who has violated their L/T Stipulation (s) [sic].

6. That upon compliance by any Defendant, then a Stipulation of Discontinuance with Prejudice will be filed as to this Defendant only.

10. This Stipulation is binding as to the parties, their heirs, successors, and assigns.

(NYSCEF Doc No. 19 at 1-2).

The stipulation of settlement in the Civil Court case (referred to as the L/T Stipulation in the Westchester County stipulation) required the Joneses to vacate the apartment and turn over possession, including the keys, to Vernon Elite on or before February 18, 2024, at 3:00 P.M. (NYSCEF Doc No. 19 at 13).

On February 6, 2024, Vernon Elite sold the premises to non-party Abraham Gelbstein (NYSCEF Doc No. 49) and assigned its rights in the landlord-tenant action to Gelbstein without recourse (Exhibit "9"). The Joneses did not move out by the required date, but on March 29, 2024, entered into a new so-ordered stipulation in Kings County Civil Court with Gelbstein whereby Gelbstein was substituted as the petitioner in place of Vernon Elite pursuant to CPLR 1018, and the Joneses were permitted to remain in the apartment through May 31, 2024, in exchange for two payments of $2,000 for use and occupancy (NYSCEF Doc No. 34). The Joneses abided by the new stipulation by paying the payments, and they moved out by May 31, 2024.

Despite having sold the property in the interim and separately assigned all of its rights to Gelbstein (Exh. 9 & 11), Vernon Elite seeks to enforce the Westchester County stipulation (that refers to the old Kings Civil stipulation of settlement) through the entry of a judgment for rent/use and occupancy arrears in the amount of $120,000, plus interest and costs and disbursements. The court (Lubell, J) initially declined to sign the judgment proposed by Vernon Elite (NYSEF Doc No. 26).² Upon further submission, the court (Lubell, J) signed a judgment on September 23, 2024 (NYSEF Doc No. 38).

On August 28, 2026, through new counsel, the Joneses brought an order to show cause, seeking vacatur of the judgment. This court heard oral argument on August 31, 2026, and vacated the judgment. The matter was set down for an inquest on September 17, 2026. The court conducted the inquest, and heard testimony from Suzan Amash, a member of Vernon Elite, and defendant Demetris Jones. The court took judicial notice of all NYSCEF filings, and exhibits "9" and "11" were admitted into evidence. At the conclusion of the inquest, the parties ordered the transcript and submitted briefs in lieu of closing statements.

Before considering damages, the court will address Vernon Elite's standing to enforce the stipulation. Had Vernon Elite sold the premises after February 18, 2024, and all other facts remained the same, it would certainly be entitled to a judgment for all rental/use and occupancy arrears accrued during the Joneses' occupancy while Vernon Elite owned the property.³ However, as the Joneses argue, at the time that the original stipulations required the Joneses to vacate the property, Vernon Elite was no longer the owner. Additionally, if the transfer of the deed to Gelbstein by itself left any doubt, Vernon Elite went the extra step of signing a notarized "Assignment of Action" stating unequivocally, "I hereby assign and transfer to the new owner(s) without recourse, the summary proceeding under l/t 312833/23" (Exhibit "11").

The Westchester County stipulation the plaintiff seeks to enforce is inextricably tied to the Kings County summary proceeding stipulation. It specifically incorporates the Kings County Stipulation as "Exhibit C" to itself, and refers to it in paragraphs "3," "4," and "5." Also, both documents appear to have been signed simultaneously, or at least in tandem, as plaintiff's counsel, the Joneses, and the Joneses' former counsel all signed both documents bearing the same date, and both were uploaded to NYSCEF together on October 30, 2023 (NYSCEF Doc. No. 19). This raises the question of whether the unfettered rights of the new owner—whether acquired by the deed from the purchase of the premises itself, or whether by the "Assignment of Action" in the landlord-tenant action—can affect the stipulation entered into by the parties in this Westchester action before title to the premises was transferred. The court finds that they do.

For at least 100 years property has been explained in terms of a " 'bundle of sticks'—a collection of individual rights which, in certain combinations, constitute property" (U.S. v Craft, 535 US 274, 278 [2002], citing B. Cardozo, Paradoxes of Legal Science 129 [1928] [reprint 2000] and Dickman v Commr., 465 U.S. 330, 336 [1984]). As explained to law students by Professor William LaPiana  ⁴ , fee simple is your whole bundle of sticks, and when you transfer your real property, you can hold onto the life estate stick, or you can sell your air rights, or grant an easement, among other options short of conveying all the sticks in the bundle (fee simple). Here, Vernon Elite conveyed its entire bundle of sticks when it sold the premises on February 6, 2024. Therefore, on February 18, 2024, the date of surrender, Vernon Elite no longer had the stick corresponding to the right to receive the keys to the Joneses' apartment, or possession thereof. Vernon Elite has not offered any explanation as to how the Joneses could have complied with the stipulation by "actual tender, surrender and delivery in hand to Petitioner or Petitioner's designated agent all of the keys to the premises" and "restoring the Subject Premises to the exclusive ownership, possession and control of Petitioner" (NYSCEF Doc No. 19 at 13). Since Vernon Elite had no right to possession on February 18, 2026, neither did it have the right to enforce the stipulation to be handed keys and possession (see generally, Boyd v. Sametz, 17 Misc 728, 731 (Dist Ct, New York, 1896 ["The petitioner, by his deed, divested himself of the right to maintain these proceedings"]).

Next, Vernon Elite tried to separate out the past rent/use and occupancy (this action) from the landlord/tenant summary proceeding and collect its claimed rent/use and occupancy. There is some support for the notion that "once jurisdiction has attached, the (money) action is not defeated simply because the tenant voluntarily vacated the premises prior to a formal resolution" (Torres v Torres, 13 Misc 3d 1167 [Civil Court, Kings County, 2006]). However, here the claim for rent/use and occupancy rests upon the Westchester County stipulation, which as explained above, is inextricably intertwined with the landlord-tenant stipulation and possession that only the new owner/landlord can insist upon.

Even if the court were to ignore the complete bundle of sticks that was conveyed by Bargain and Sale Deed on February 6, 2024, Vernon Elite is still not entitled to relief because on that same day, it assigned all of its rights in the landlord-tenant proceeding without recourse to Gelbstein (Exhibit "9"). Thus, Gelbstein alone had the unfettered, exclusive right and authority to negotiate with the Joneses, extend their possession, and to amend or replace the landlord-tenant stipulation.

With that authority, through his counsel, Gelbstein entered into a new stipulation with the Joneses in court, extending the time the Joneses could remain in the premises and for which he received use and occupancy covering the extension of time (NYSCEF Doc. No. 21). Thus, he and the Joneses superseded the October 30, 2023, landlord-tenant stipulation between Vernon Elite and the Joneses. Any argument to the contrary fails as a matter of both law and public policy, because the dead hand of the old owner cannot restrict the new owner, nor in this case can it demand money from its former tenant based upon conduct occurring after it has signed the deed and delivered it to the new owner. The court can envision ways that the new and old owner could have worked in concert to protect the old owner's potential recovery in the event of the tenants' failure to move out, but that did not occur in this case.

As a result of the foregoing analysis and conclusions, there is no need to consider damages. The court notes that the plaintiff benefitted from the stipulation it made with defendants, as it was able to sell the property prior to the tenants' move out date in the stipulation, without any escrow being held or any credits being issued to the buyer as a result of the Joneses' tenancy (Tr. at 29-30).⁵

This matter is dismissed.

This constitutes the Judgment and Order of the Court.

Dated: November 6, 2026

White Plains, New York

HON. CHARLES D. WOOD

Justice of the Supreme Court

FOOTNOTES

1.   By Decision and Order dated February 28, 2023, Supreme Court, Kings County declared the fraudulent deed which purportedly conveyed title to Ms. Homayoonfar's deceased husband void ab initio, restoring Shaul Amzalag to title in fee simple absolute (see NYSCEF Doc No. 46). On March 29, 2023, Amzalag conveyed title to the property to plaintiff, 131 Vernon Elite LLC (see NYSCEF Doc No. 3 at 1-4). Plaintiff discontinued the quiet title action against Homayoonfar, her husband's estate, and their corporation, ZBT Holdings, with prejudice, and chose not to pursue them for damages.

2.   This action was initially assigned to Hon. Lewis J. Lubell, J.S.C., who has since retired.

3.   As the Joneses point out, Vernon Elite seeks rent/use and occupancy for several months prior to when they moved in, and during the time that it was not yet the record owner.

4.   This court credits its foundational knowledge of Property Law to Professor LaPiana's lectures in 1991-92.

5.   The contract of sale from Vernon Elite to Gelbstein was never provided to the court.

Charles D. Wood, J.