Does New York law override a lease's automatic renewal clause?

Full question:

My customer has a lease with Wells Fargo. There lease says customer must notify them between 120 and 189 days. The customers notification went out at approximately 110 days. They received a letter talking about an automatic evergreen till May 2010. I have attached a copy of New York State law which is contrary to Well's Fargo lease contract. The lease is up 5/19/08. Is the New York state law an override to the lease? The existing New York law requires that lessor send lessee a written notice of any automatic lease renewal for any period greater than 30 days. The notice must be given at least 15 days but not more than 30 days before lease end. <br/> Following is a summary of the existing law: New York State Consolidated Laws General Obligations TITLE 9REQUIREMENTS OF NOTICE FOR EFFECTIVENESS OR ENFORCEABILITY Section 5-901. Certain provisions of leases of personal property inoperative unless notice thereof given to lessee. No provision of a lease of any personal property which states that the term thereof shall be deemed renewed for a specified additional period unless the lessee gives notice to the lessor of his intention to release the property at the expiration of such term, shall be operative unless the lessor, at least fifteen days and not more than thirty days previous to the time specified for the furnishing of such notice to him, shall give to the lessee written notice, served personally or by mail, calling the attention of the lessee to the existence of such provision in the lease. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to apply to a contract in which the automatic renewal period specified is one month or less.

• Category: Landlord Tenant
• Subcategory: Lease Termination
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: New York

Answer:

The statute you referenced applies to personal property leases. If the lease includes an automatic renewal clause, it can be enforced as long as it meets the requirements of the statute. The law mandates that the lessor must send a reminder notice to the lessee about the automatic renewal between 15 and 30 days before the lessee must provide notice of intent not to renew. This is the only condition for the automatic renewal clause's enforceability. If the lease requires more than one month's notice to terminate, and the lessor sends the reminder notice on time, a notice to terminate given by the lessee at 110 days could be considered invalid. The relevant statute is New York Consolidated Laws General Obligations § 5-901.