Tenant appeals from an order of the Civil Court, New York County (Laurie L. Lau, J.), entered on or about April 12, 2004, which denied tenant's motion to vacate a default final judgment of possession in a summary holdover proceeding.

PER CURIAM:

Order (Laurie L. Lau, J.), entered on or about April 12, 2004, affirmed, with $10 costs.

We find no abuse of discretion in the denial of tenant's motion to vacate the default possessory judgment issued in this holdover proceeding based upon chronic nonpayment of rent. Tenant failed to present a reasonable excuse for his failure to appear on the scheduled trial date. Tenant's assertion that he was told to return to court on a different date was belied by a court conference audiotape, which, as Civil Court noted, confirmed the court's clear, unequivocal and repeated directive to the tenant to appear for trial on the scheduled date. The record also establishes that tenant failed to comply with court directives to serve an answer to the October 2003 petition, demonstrating a pattern of default and neglect (see Incorporated Vil. of Hempstead v Jablonsky, 283 AD2d 553, 554 [2001]). Moreover, tenant failed to set forth a potentially meritorious defense to the petition. There is no indication of a bona-fide habitability claim or dispute as to the amount of rent owed or other explanation for tenant's history of rent delinquency.

This constitutes the decision and order of the court.
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Decision Date: January 19, 2006