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THE OPTION TO RENEW THE LEASE WAS NOT ENFORCEABLE; IT WAS MERELY AN AGREEMENT TO AGREE (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, applying the “doctrine of definiteness” determined the option to renew the lease was not enforceable and the lease had therefore expired:

“The doctrine of definiteness or certainty is well established in contract law. In short, it means that a court cannot enforce a contract unless it is able to determine what in fact the parties have agreed to” … . Among the terms of a lease that must be known is the amount of rent that is to be paid … . The doctrine of definiteness, however, is not applied rigidly, and “where it is clear from the language of an agreement that the parties intended to be bound and there exists an objective method for supplying a missing term, the court should endeavor to hold the parties to their bargain” … . In the absence of an explicit contract term, the requirement of definiteness may be satisfied where: (1) the agreement itself sets forth an agreed methodology for determining the missing term within its four corners or (2) the agreement invites recourse to an objective extrinsic event, condition, or standard to ascertain the term … .

Here, the parties’ failure to set forth either the amount of rent to be paid during the renewal period, or an agreed formula, methodology, or objective extrinsic event by which that rent could be determined, rendered the option to renew an unenforceable agreement to agree … . Vizel v Vitale, 2020 NY Slip Op 03140, Second Dept 6-3-20

 

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