Tenant appeals from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County (Peter J. Wendt, J.), entered October 12, 2007, which denied her motion to stay execution of a warrant of eviction in a holdover summary proceeding based upon chronic nonpayment of rent.

Per Curiam.

Order (Peter J. Wendt, J.), entered on October 12, 2007, affirmed, with $10 costs.

Civil Court did not abuse its discretion in denying tenant further relief from her continued defaults in tendering rent due pursuant to the unambiguous "time is of the essence" payment terms of the parties' settlement stipulation. "Strict enforcement of the parties stipulation ... is warranted based upon the principal that the parties to a civil dispute are free to chart their own litigation course" (Mill Rock Plaza Assocs. v Lively, 224 AD2d 301 [1996]), particularly where, as here, the rent delinquencies underlying the landlord's holdover petition continued unabated into the probationary period agreed to by tenant (see Henry Hudson Gardens, LLC v Bareda, 25 AD3d 466 [2006]; cf. 2246 Holding Corp v Nolasco, AD3d , 2008 NY Slip Op 05569 [2008] [multiple defaults under stipulation were largely the result of a delay in payment by HRA]).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.
Decision Date: July 18, 2008