Columbia Pictures Corp., 4 NY2d 117, 120-21, rearg. denied, 4 NY2d 1046 (1958).
A tenant's right to "quiet enjoyment" is breached when the landlord wrongfully and substantially
interferes with the tenant's beneficial enjoyment or use of the premises. See Barash v.
Pennsylvania Term. Real Estate Corp., 26 NY2d 77, 83 (1970); Dave Herstein Co. v.
Columbia Pictures Corp., 4 NY2d at 120; 2 Dolan, Rasch's Landlord and Tenant-Summary
Proceedings § 28:1, at 322-23 [4th ed].
In this action, defendant Linda Young breached plaintiff Ana Gignac's right to quiet
enjoyment of her leased apartment when she ordered Ms. Gignac to cease operating her massage
business from her apartment. There was no written lease barring the operation of Ms. Gignac's
massage business from her apartment; there was no testimonial evidence that the parties' verbal
lease barred the operation of Ms. Gignac's business from her apartment; and there was no
evidence that Ms. Gignac's operation of her massage business out of her apartment violated any
laws.
Thus, when Ms. Young told Ms. Gignac on July 17, 2010 that she could no longer operate
the business from her apartment, Ms. Young wrongfully breached Ms. Gignac's right to occupy
and use her apartment in the manner to which she was entitled. Ms. Gignac's subsequent
abandonment of her apartment due to the untenable condition that Ms. Young imposed on her
continued occupancy constituted a constructive eviction, thereby relieving Ms. Gignac's
obligation to pay rent for occupying the apartment beyond the date of her departure. See
Barash [*3]v. Pennsylvania Term. Real Estate Corp., 27
NY2d 77 at 83; Grammer v. Turits, 271 AD2d 644, 645-46 (2d Dep't 2000); Minjak
Co. v. Randolph, 140 AD2d 245, 248 (1st Dep't 1988).