Penfield v. Murray Hill Holding Corp.

Judgment unanimously reversed, with costs to the appellant, the complaint dismissed and judgment is directed to be entered in favor of the defendant, with costs. Where, as here, the plaintiffs’ leases have expired, they hold over as statutory tenants in occupancy not pursuant to any agreement, but solely by virtue of the law’s compulsion on the landlord (Whitmarsh v. Parnell, 298 N. Y. 336; Stern v. Equitable Trust Co., 238 N. Y. 267). A plenary suit for enforcement of alleged contractual rights obviously cannot be maintained in the absence of contract. As statutory tenants, the plaintiffs’…