On May 7, 2025, the Second Department issued a decision in Yorktown Funeral Home, LLC v. Kamitis, Inc., 2025 NY Slip Op. 02812, holding that a tenant may make non-structural modifications to a commercial property that are necessary to carry on the tenant’s business, explaining:
In July 2010, the plaintiff, as tenant, and the defendant, as landlord, entered into a lease agreement with respect to certain premises located in Yorktown. In or around 2012, the plaintiff made several alterations to the premises, including the installation of a mechanical scissor lift. In 2020, the defendant served a notice to cure on the plaintiff, alleging that the plaintiff was in breach of the lease agreement by making alterations to the premises without the defendant’s prior written consent. Thereafter, the plaintiff formally attempted to exercise its option to purchase the premises, which the defendant rejected on the ground that the plaintiff breached the lease agreement.
. . .
Non-structural alterations necessary to carry on a tenant’s business may be made without the landlord’s consent. This is true even where the lease requires that no alterations may be made without the landlord’s consent; provided, however, that such alterations will not injure the reversion, and provided, further, that they are reasonably necessary to enable the tenant to use the premises in the manner set forth in the lease.
(Internal quotations and citations omitted).