Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court, New York County (Jeffrey K. Oing, J.), dated August 23, 2005, after trial, in favor of defendant dismissing the action.

PER CURIAM:

Judgment (Jeffrey K. Oing, J.), dated August 23, 2005, reversed, without costs, and judgment granted in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $5,000.

Plaintiff, the former tenant of a residential apartment in a building owned by defendant, demonstrated entitlement to the return of the security deposit under the clear and unambiguous provisions of paragraph 5 of the parties' lease agreement through undisputed proof that he was current in the payment of rent at the time he vacated the premises and was not otherwise in any default under the lease. Although defendant seeks to retain the security deposit upon allegations of a subsequent oral agreement between the parties, enforcement of any such agreement is prohibited by the express terms of the lease and the parol evidence rule. We thus award plaintiff a recovery of $5,000 - an amount consistent with the court's jurisdictional limit (see CCA 1801) - a result which accomplishes "substantial justice" consistent with substantive law principles (see CCA 1807).

This constitutes the decision and order of the court. [*2]
Decision Date: July 24, 2006