Plaintiff appeals from an order of the Civil Court, New York County, entered May 1, 2003 (Geoffrey D. Wright, J.) which, inter alia, granted the motion of defendants Shani Realty LLC and Irana Realty Corp. for summary judgment dismissing the complaint as against them.

PER CURIAM:

Order entered May 1, 2003 (Geoffrey D. Wright, J.) affirmed, with $10 costs.

No triable issue of fact exists as to the liability of the realty defendants, the owner and managing agent of the subject building, for plaintiff's slip and fall on the exterior stairs leading to the commercial premises leased to and occupied by the remaining defendants. There is no evidence that the out-of-possession landlord contractually assumed responsibility for maintaining the stairs; indeed, the lease unambiguously obligated the tenants to make all nonstructural repairs. Moreover, the deposition testimony demonstrates that the tenants controlled, maintained and made repairs to this staircase prior to plaintiff's fall. [*2]

Nor may liability be imposed upon the realty defendants on the theory that the stairs in question were affected by a Code violation, and were consequently defective and hazardous. The Code section relied on by plaintiff is not applicable to the kind of stairs at issue, which were not "exterior stairs" being "used as exits in lieu of interior stairs" (Administrative Code of City of NY § 27-376; see Gaston v New York City Hous. Auth., 258 AD2d 220, 223-224 [1999]).

This constitutes the decision and order of the Court.
Decision Date: September 09, 2005