Published but Never Filed: Brooklyn Housing Court Dismisses LLC Landlord's Holdover Under LLC Law § 206

10M157Huron LLC v Cumbie, Index No. LT-333577-25/KI (Civ Ct, Kings County, Housing Part, July 14, 2026) (Weisberg, J.)

By Bikram Singh, Esq. | Singh & Rani LLP

A landlord that holds its building through a limited liability company has to do more than form the LLC before it can sue a tenant. It has to complete the publication process under Limited Liability Company Law § 206, and that includes filing proof of publication with the Department of State. On July 14, 2026, Civil Court, Kings County, Housing Part (Michael L. Weisberg, J.H.C.) dismissed a holdover proceeding because the petitioner LLC had published its notice but never filed the proof.

Bikram Singh of Singh & Rani LLP represented the tenant, Jansen Cumbie.

The Motions

The petitioner, 10M157Huron LLC, brought a holdover proceeding against our client and others. Two motions were before the court:

• Motion sequence 1: the tenant's motion to dismiss, on the ground that the petitioner had not complied with LLC Law § 206.
• Motion sequence 2: the petitioner's motion for summary judgment.

The petitioner's answer to the § 206 argument was that it had published. It did not show that it had filed proof of that publication with the Department of State.

The Holding: "Maintaining" Versus "Bringing"

The decision is short, and its reasoning turns on the wording of the statutes.

The court first noted that two related statutes, LLC Law § 808 and Business Corporation Law § 1312, prohibit only "maintaining" an action without first having received authority to do business. Those provisions have been read to allow later compliance (see Matter of Mobilevision Med. Imaging Servs., LLC v Sinai Diagnostic & Interventional Radiology, P.C., 66 AD3d 685 [2d Dept 2009]).

Section 206, the court held, contains no such limiting language. A domestic LLC that has not completed the publication requirements, including filing proof of publication with the Department of State, is precluded from bringing an action at all (Small Step Day Care, LLC v Broadway Bushwick Bldrs., L.P., 137 AD3d 1102 [2d Dept 2016]).

Applied here, the result followed directly: publishing without filing is not compliance. The tenant's motion to dismiss was granted, and the landlord's summary judgment motion was denied as moot.

The Second Win on the Same Defense

This is the second decision this year in which our clients defeated an LLC plaintiff on § 206 grounds. In January 2026, Supreme Court, Bronx County dismissed the complaint in 2275 Washington, LLC v Sylvester, Index No. 804879/2025E, where the LLC conceded it had no proof of publication on file when it sued and argued, unsuccessfully, that it had since cured the defect.

The two decisions approach the problem from different directions but rely on the same Second Department authority, Small Step Day Care. Sylvester rejects the argument that a defect can be cured after the action is commenced. Huron holds that partial compliance, publishing without filing, does not count.

Takeaways

For tenants and their counsel:

• Check the LLC's filing status in every case with an LLC petitioner. Whether a certificate of publication is on file with the Department of State is a public record, and it can end a holdover before trial.
• "We published" is not an answer. Section 206 requires the filing of proof, not just the newspaper notices.
• Raise the defense by motion. Here it disposed of the proceeding and mooted the landlord's own summary judgment motion.

For owners and their counsel:

• Finish the process before you serve a predicate notice. Publication takes six weeks, and the affidavit of publication must then be filed with the Department of State.
• Keep the filing receipt with the deed. Single-property LLCs often change hands, and a buyer may assume the publication step was completed when it was not.
• Do not rely on cases about "maintaining" an action. Authority under LLC Law § 808 and BCL § 1312 does not carry over to § 206.

A Note on Scope

This is a trial-level Housing Court decision. It dismissed the proceeding on the § 206 ground without reaching the merits of the holdover, and it does not address whether the petitioner may bring a new proceeding once it has filed proof of publication.

Singh & Rani LLP represents tenants and property owners in Housing Court, Civil Court, Supreme Court, and on appeal throughout New York City. Bikram Singh represented the tenant in 10M157Huron LLC v Cumbie. If your landlord is an LLC and has started a case against you, its legal capacity to bring that case is worth checking.

Singh & Rani LLP 5 Penn Plaza, 19th Floor New York, NY 10001

Attorney Advertising. This article is for general informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each matter turns on its own facts and applicable law.

Related: No Publication, No Lawsuit: Bronx Supreme Court Dismisses an LLC Plaintiff's Action Under LLC Law § 206