Defendant appeals from an order of the Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County (Matthew F. Cooper, J.), entered May 29, 2007, which granted defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint to the extent of limiting plaintiff's breach of contract claim to $8,359.56 and dismissing that portion of the claim exceeding that amount.

Per Curiam.

Order (Matthew F. Cooper, J.), entered May 29, 2007, insofar as appealed from, reversed, with $10 costs, and defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint granted. The Clerk is directed to enter judgment accordingly.

Even assuming in plaintiff-landlord's favor that its handwriten note briefly explaining the underlying "situation" and asking the defendant Housing Authority to "look into this case" was sufficient to satisfy the notice requirements of Public Law § 157 (cf. Leon v New York City Hous. Auth., 214 AD2d 455 [1995]), defendant's motion for summary judgment dismissing the complaint on the merits should have been granted in its entirety. The record conclusively shows that defendant was under no contractual obligation to make the payments sought herein, where "the family [was not] residing in the [contract] unit" as required by the Housing Assistance Payments agreement (Part B, paragraph 7[a][4]), and was absent from the apartment premises for a longer period than that allowed by controlling federal regulations (see 24 CFR 982.312).

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.
Decision Date: April 08, 2009