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HEATING AGREEMENT WAS A COVENANT WHICH RUNS WITH THE LAND, ORAL WAIVER MAY BE VALID DESPITE WRITING REQUIREMENT IN THE COVENANT.

The First Department determined there was a question of fact whether plaintiff building owner waived a heating agreement, which was a covenant running with the land. The covenant obligated defendant to provide heat to plaintiff’s building as long as both buildings existed. The fact that the covenant required any waiver to be in writing was not dispositive. Oral waivers may be valid:

The motion court correctly concluded that the obligation undertaken by the previous owners of a building, currently owned by defendant, to provide steam heat to adjacent buildings, including one owned by plaintiff, as reflected in a written agreement between the previous owners of defendant’s building and the previous owners of the adjacent buildings (Heating Agreement), which was recorded in the Office of the City Register of the City of New York, is a covenant running with the land. Accordingly, it is binding on defendant so long as both buildings are in existence … . * * *

In this case, the agreement provides that “in the event the owner of any of said parcels [including plaintiff] shall elect to terminate and cancel this agreement with respect to said parcel, which election shall be made by written notice to the owner of Parcel I [currently, defendant], then this agreement shall end and terminate with respect to any such parcel as of . . . the date when notice of election to cancel is given.”

Plaintiff’s contention that this language precludes its waiver of the covenant by any means other than a writing is misplaced. “[A] contracting party may orally waive enforcement of a contract term notwithstanding a provision to the contrary in the agreement. Such waiver may be evinced by words or conduct, including partial performance” … . Here, the record reflects that a representative of plaintiff orally advised a member of defendant’s coop board that plaintiff would install its own boiler to provide heat to its own building independently. Condor Funding, LLC v 176 Broadway Owners Corp., 2017 NY Slip Op 00719, 1st Dept 2-2-17

 

CONTRACT LAW (COVENANT RUNNING WITH THE LAND, HEATING AGREEMENT WAS A COVENANT WHICH RUNS WITH THE LAND, ORAL WAIVER MAY BE VALID DESPITE WRITING REQUIREMENT IN THE COVENANT)/CONTRACT LAW (WAIVER, HEATING AGREEMENT WAS A COVENANT WHICH RUNS WITH THE LAND, ORAL WAIVER MAY BE VALID DESPITE WRITING REQUIREMENT IN THE COVENANT)/REAL PROPERTY LAW (COVENANT RUNNING WITH THE LAND, HEATING AGREEMENT WAS A COVENANT WHICH RUNS WITH THE LAND, ORAL WAIVER MAY BE VALID DESPITE WRITING REQUIREMENT IN THE COVENANT)/COVENANT RUNNING WITH THE LAND (HEATING AGREEMENT WAS A COVENANT WHICH RUNS WITH THE LAND, ORAL WAIVER MAY BE VALID DESPITE WRITING REQUIREMENT IN THE COVENANT)

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