It is well settled that in order for a tenant to recover an abatement for breach of the warranty of habitability, “the landlord must have actual or constructive notice of the existence of the condition in need of repair” (Scherer, Residential Landlord-Tenant Law in New York § 12:98 [2006]). Although it has been held that a lease provision purporting to require prior written notice of a condition before the warranty of habitability may be invoked is unenforceable (see Vanderhoff v Casler, 91 AD2d 49, 51 [1983]), there is no blanket prohibition against sophisticated parties, represented by counsel, entering into a so-ordered settlement stipulation setting forth the form of the notice that must be provided before rent or maintenance is withheld. This is especially so here, given the backdrop of the extensive litigation history between the parties and tenants’ “unjustified with*73holding of maintenance and other payments for extensive periods of time . . . , which compelled the cooperative to bring multiple costly nonpayment proceedings” (1050 Tenants Corp. v Lapidus, 39 AD3d 379, 383 [2007]). The stipulation was designed to ensure that before tenants withheld maintenance, landlord received actual, verifiable notice of any conditions alleged to constitute a breach of the warranty of habitability and a real opportunity to remedy the condition, while reserving tenants’ right to prompt repairs in the event of actual defects. The stipulation neither waived nor substantially impaired tenants’ capacity to rely upon the warranty of habitability. “There is no public policy favoring the repeated assertion of unsustainable arguments, a pattern of delaying tactics designed to inflict extensive costs on the adversary, dishonesty or disingenuousness with the court, [or] disregard of so-ordered stipulations” (1050 Tenants Corp. v Lapidus, 39 AD3d at 384).