Landlord Judgment Collection Attorney

A money judgment against a former tenant is a court order, not a check. Many New York landlords leave Housing Court or Civil Court with a judgment for unpaid rent and never see a dollar of it. The tenant moves, changes banks, or simply ignores the judgment. Article 52 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules gives judgment creditors a set of enforcement tools, and our firm uses them on behalf of residential and commercial landlords across New York State.

What a Landlord's Judgment Actually Covers

The first step is reading the judgment carefully. In a residential nonpayment proceeding, RPAPL 702 (added by the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019) limits "rent" to the monthly or periodic amount the tenant agreed to pay for use of the premises. Late fees, legal fees, and other charges cannot be included in a summary proceeding judgment, even if the lease calls them "additional rent." Those sums must be pursued in a separate plenary action in Civil Court or Supreme Court. Real Property Law § 238-a also caps residential late fees at the lesser of $50 or five percent of the monthly rent, so older lease clauses charging more are unenforceable.

Commercial landlords are not subject to those limits. A commercial lease judgment can include base rent, additional rent, attorneys' fees where the lease provides for them, and post-vacatur damages under an acceleration or survival clause. If a guarantor signed the lease, the guaranty is enforced through an ordinary breach of contract action, and Civil Court has jurisdiction up to $50,000 under New York City Civil Court Act § 202.

One more preliminary point: if the tenant never appeared and the petition was served by conspicuous-place ("nail and mail") service, Housing Court judges will usually award possession but decline to award a money judgment. The landlord then needs a plenary action to obtain an enforceable money judgment. We handle those actions and, where the tenant again fails to answer, we obtain a default judgment under CPLR 3215 that can be enforced statewide.

Docket the Judgment First

A judgment entered in Civil Court binds only the parties until it is docketed with the County Clerk. Under CPLR 5018(a), we obtain a transcript of judgment from the Civil Court clerk and file it with the County Clerk in each county where the debtor owns or may own real property. Docketing does two things. It creates a lien on the debtor's real property in that county under CPLR 5203(a), effective for ten years from the filing of the judgment roll. It also allows the County Sheriff, rather than only the City Marshal, to levy on the debtor's assets.

The judgment itself remains enforceable for twenty years under CPLR 211(b). The real property lien can be extended for an additional ten years by a renewal action under CPLR 5014, which we calendar for every docketed judgment we hold.

Post-Judgment Interest on Tenant Judgments

Interest runs from the date of entry under CPLR 5003. The rate depends on who the debtor is. CPLR 5004(a), as amended effective April 30, 2022, sets a two percent annual rate on judgments arising from "consumer debt," defined as an obligation of a natural person incurred primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. Most residential rent judgments against individual tenants fall within that definition. Judgments against commercial tenants, corporate guarantors, and other business entities continue to accrue interest at nine percent per year. On a $40,000 commercial judgment, that difference is $2,800 per year. You can estimate the current payoff on any New York judgment with our judgment interest calculator.

Finding the Tenant's Assets

Most former tenants do not leave a forwarding address. CPLR 5223 entitles a judgment creditor to compel disclosure of "all matter relevant to the satisfaction of the judgment." We use three devices:

• Information subpoena (CPLR 5224(a)(3)): served by registered or certified mail on banks, employers, and the debtor personally, with written questions that must be answered within seven days. Willful failure to answer is punishable as contempt under CPLR 5251.
• Subpoena duces tecum (CPLR 5224(a)(2)): compels production of bank statements, pay stubs, tax returns, and the like.
• Deposition subpoena (CPLR 5224(a)(1)): requires the debtor to appear and testify under oath about income and property.

We also review the tenant's rental application and lease file. Employer information, prior bank references, and emergency contacts collected at move-in frequently locate assets years later.

Enforcement Tools Under CPLR Article 52

Restraining Notice (CPLR 5222)

An attorney for the judgment creditor may issue a restraining notice without court involvement. Served on a bank, it freezes the debtor's account, up to twice the judgment amount, for one year. Served on the debtor, it prohibits transfer of any property. The notice must be accompanied by the exemption notice and claim forms required by CPLR 5222(e). Under CPLR 5222(i) and CPLR 5205(l), the bank must leave untouched the greater of 240 times the applicable state minimum wage or the inflation-adjusted protected amount, and an account receiving direct deposits of exempt income such as Social Security is protected to a higher threshold. A restraint on funds above those amounts is the fastest path to payment we have.

Income Execution (CPLR 5231)

Where the tenant is employed, a Sheriff or Marshal serves an income execution on the debtor first, giving twenty days to pay voluntarily, and then on the employer. The employer withholds ten percent of gross wages per pay period until the judgment, interest, and fees are satisfied. No deduction may be taken if the debtor's disposable earnings are below thirty times the state minimum hourly wage, and total garnishments cannot exceed twenty-five percent of disposable earnings. On a tenant earning $60,000 per year, a wage execution yields roughly $500 per month.

Property Execution and Levy (CPLR 5230, 5232)

An execution delivered to the Sheriff or Marshal authorizes a levy on bank accounts, vehicles, security deposits held by a new landlord, and other personal property. The enforcement officer collects poundage of five percent under CPLR 8012(b), which is added to the debtor's obligation. Real property subject to a docketed lien can be sold under CPLR 5236, though a residential homestead is exempt up to the amounts set in CPLR 5206.

Turnover Proceeding (CPLR 5225 and 5227)

If a third party, such as a new landlord holding the tenant's security deposit or a relative holding transferred funds, refuses to honor a levy, we commence a special proceeding for a turnover order. The court directs the third party to pay the funds to the Sheriff or to the creditor directly.

Installment Payment Order (CPLR 5226)

Where the debtor is self-employed or paid in cash, the court may order periodic payments out of income that is not reachable by a standard wage execution.

A Worked Example

A Brooklyn landlord obtains a Civil Court judgment for $18,000 against a commercial tenant that abandoned a storefront, plus a separate judgment against the individual guarantor. Week one: we obtain transcripts and docket both judgments in Kings County and in Nassau County, where the guarantor owns a house. The Nassau docketing creates a lien on the house. Week two: we serve information subpoenas on four banks identified from the rent checks in the landlord's file. One bank confirms a balance of $11,400 in the guarantor's name. Week three: a restraining notice freezes that account, and a property execution to the Nassau County Sheriff levies on it. Week eight: the Sheriff remits the funds less poundage. The remaining balance, now accruing at nine percent, is satisfied over the following year through an income execution on the guarantor's wages. The house lien remains as security until the judgment is paid in full.

Confessions of Judgment in Lease Guaranties

Some commercial leases require the guarantor to sign an affidavit of confession of judgment under CPLR 3218. Since the 2019 amendment, a confession may only be filed in the county where the debtor resided when it was signed or resides at filing, and non-residents' confessions are not enforceable in New York. Where a valid confession exists, we file it and begin enforcement without a lawsuit. Our page on confession of judgment collection explains the filing requirements in detail.

Common Obstacles

• Bankruptcy: an automatic stay halts all enforcement. Unpaid rent is generally dischargeable, but we review the petition for non-dischargeable fraud claims and for undisclosed assets.
• Exemption claims: a debtor may move under CPLR 5240 to vacate a restraint on exempt funds. We respond within the statutory deadlines and release only what the law requires.
• Fraudulent transfers: assets moved to a spouse or a new entity after the debt arose may be recovered under the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, Debtor and Creditor Law Article 10.
• Duty to mitigate: for residential leases, Real Property Law § 227-e requires the landlord to have made reasonable efforts to re-rent. Tenants raise this defense in plenary actions, so we document re-letting efforts before filing.

You can contact the Law Offices of Albert Goodwin by phone at 212-233-1233 or by email at [email protected].