64 N.Y.2d 939 (1985)
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Real Property Law § 226-b, concerning a landlord’s consent to a tenant’s assignment of a lease, applies retroactively to pending actions, and under the amended statute, a landlord’s unreasonable withholding of consent entitles the tenant only to be released from the lease, not to proceed with the assignment.
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Summary
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Blum sought a declaration that West End Associates, her landlord, was deemed to have consented to her lease assignment under the former Real Property Law § 226-b because the landlord failed to respond to her request. While the action was pending, the statute was amended to limit the tenant’s remedy for a landlord’s unreasonable withholding of consent to lease assignment to lease termination. The Court of Appeals held that the amended statute applied retroactively to the pending action, and Blum was therefore only entitled to be released from her lease, not to proceed with the assignment. The court rejected Blum’s argument that she had a vested right to proceed with the assignment.
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Facts
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Blum, a tenant, sought to assign her lease and requested the landlord’s consent. The landlord failed to send a notice responding to Blum’s request. Under the then-existing Real Property Law § 226-b, such failure was deemed consent. Blum commenced an action seeking a declaration that the landlord was deemed to have consented to the assignment.
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Procedural History
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Blum brought an action in Supreme Court, New York County, seeking a declaratory judgment. The Appellate Division’s order was reversed by the Court of Appeals, and the matter was remitted to the Supreme Court for entry of a judgment consistent with the Court of Appeals’ memorandum.
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Issue(s)
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Whether the amended Real Property Law § 226-b, which limits a tenant’s remedy for a landlord’s unreasonable withholding of consent to lease assignment, applies retroactively to actions pending on the statute’s effective date, even if the landlord’s failure to consent occurred before that date.
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Holding
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Yes, because section 226-b (7) explicitly states that the new provision concerning assignment is applicable “to all actions and proceedings pending on the effective date of this section [June 30, 1983]”.
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Court’s Reasoning
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The Court reasoned that under the present version of Real Property Law § 226-b, if a landlord unreasonably withholds consent to a proposed assignment, the tenant’s only remedy is to be released from the lease. The Court pointed to section 226-b(7), which made the new provision applicable to pending actions. The court dismissed Blum’s argument that she had a