In consolidated actions, defendant appeals from two judgments of the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court, New York County (Jeffrey K. Oing, J.), each entered on or about April 29, 2004 after trial, in favor of plaintiffs and awarding each of them damages in the principal sum of $2,925.

PER CURIAM:

Judgment (Jeffrey K. Oing, J.) entered on or about April 29, 2004, affirmed, without costs.

The record and the ends of "substantial justice" (CCA 1804, 1807) support the trial court's determination that defendant-landlord unreasonably withheld plaintiffs' security [*2]deposit upon their vacatur of the apartment premises at the conclusion of the lease term. Plaintiff Sullivan's retrieval of an item of personal property the day after the lease expired did not extend the leasehold so as to obligate plaintiffs to pay an additional month's rent.

Unrebutted testimony in the record established that plaintiffs split the security deposit evenly between them, each writing a check for $2,925, and each filing his own claim within the monetary jurisdictional limit of the Small Claims Part. The consolidation of these claims for trial purposes did not affect the court's jurisdiction.

This constitutes the decision and order of the Court.
Decision Date: March 02, 2006