300 West End Avenue Corp. v. Warner

Plaintiff seeks to enforce a lease for a period greater than one year. The. sole question upon this appeal is whether the lessee may assert as a defense that neither the lease nor any memorandum thereof was “ subscribed by the lessor * * * or by his lawfully authorized agent.” (Real Prop. Law, § 259.) It may be conceded that there are dicta to the effect that this statute was enacted for the benefit of the lessor and may not be availed of by the lessee. But there are no holdings to that effect. Brune v. Vom Lehn (112 Misc. 342; affd., 196 App. Div. 907) discusses the question, but explicitly…