78 HAVEMEYER LLC v. ABUZAID (2020)

ORDERED that the final judgment is affirmed, without costs.

In this holdover proceeding based upon landlord's purported termination of an alleged month-to-month tenancy, tenant asserted, as one of his affirmative defenses, that the building in which he resides and two contiguous buildings together constitute a horizontal multiple dwelling that is subject to the Rent Stabilization Law of 1969 (RSL) (Administrative Code of City of NY § 26-501 et seq.) (see RSL §§ 26-504, 26-505; Rent Stabilization Code [9 NYCRR] § 2520.11 [d]; Matter of Salvati v. Eimicke, 72 NY2d 784, 792 [1988]). After a nonjury trial, the Civil Court, in a decision dated January 29, 2016, awarded tenant a final judgment dismissing the petition, finding that the premises is part of a horizontal multiple dwelling that is subject to the RSL. Pursuant to that decision, a final judgment was entered on January 29, 2016. Landlord appeals, contending only that the final judgment should be reversed and a new trial ordered due to deficiencies in the trial transcripts that would preclude meaningful appellate review.¹

Upon a review of the record, we conclude that, contrary to landlord's contention, there are no errors, omissions or deficiencies in the trial transcripts that would preclude meaningful appellate review and warrant a reversal of the final judgment and a remand for a new trial (cf. Matter of Ernest LL v. Rosemary LL, 50 AD2d 706, 707 [1975] [holding that an order issued after a trial in a custody proceeding had to be reversed and a new trial ordered because the numerous errors, mistakes and omissions in the trial transcript precluded meaningful appellate review] ).

Accordingly, the final judgment is affirmed.

FOOTNOTES

1.   By order dated August 16, 2018, the Civil Court denied landlord's motion to set aside the January 29, 2016 decision and for a new trial on the ground of transcript deficiencies. Subsequently, by order dated October 23, 2018, the court granted landlord's motion to settle the trial transcripts and to recreate a portion of a transcript for certain missing testimony.

ALIOTTA, P.J., ELLIOT and TOUSSAINT, JJ., concur.