Courtney Love Wins Eviction Challenge

Courtney Love will not be evicted from her West Village townhouse after all. Following oral arguments in New York City Housing Court last Friday, Judge Jean T. Schneider issued her decision Tuesday dismissing a petition filed against Love in November by her landlord Donna Lyon, seeking money for rent and an eviction.

Initially, Love's lease agreement required her to pay, in addition to a security deposit, her first six month's rent up front, after which she was to pay for the next six months. Before the end of the first six month term, however, Love's lease was modified so that she would pay her rent – $27,000 a month – on a monthly basis.

In accordance with the modified lease agreement, Love paid her monthly rent for both last September and October, and the money was accepted by her landlord. But then her landlord tried to return to the initial terms of the lease, saying Love still owed rent.

According to Judge Schneider, because Love paid monthly and Lyon accepted the payments, the rent payment modification was a binding agreement. Because the petition filed against Love asked for money she would not have yet had to pay under the lease's most recent terms, money Judge Schneider called "rent not yet due," the proceeding was dismissed.

"We're pleased about this," Love's attorney, Eric Sherman, tells Rolling Stone. "The court agreed with our position. Courtney's position was to dismiss the landlord's case and the court properly determined that it was wrongly filed in the first place – not only did Courtney pay rent on time, but there were a number of instances where she paid it before the due date. This was a baseless claim."

Attorney Norman Flitt, who represents Lyon, would not comment on the rent case. Instead, he focused on a Love allegedly altering the apartment. "The alteration dispute was not part of the rent case and remains unresolved," he says – though he adds that dispute is not yet filed in court.