—In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendant appeals from an interlocutory judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Feinberg, J.), dated October 16, 1996, which, upon a jury verdict, found it 60% at fault in the happening of the accident.
Ordered that the interlocutory judgment is reversed, on the law, with costs, and a new trial is granted on the issue of liability.
On July 18, 1991, the plaintiff, á counselor employed by the Beth Israel Medical Center (hereinafter Beth Israel), tripped and fell when she caught her foot on a patch of torn carpeting. At the time of her accident, the plaintiff was assigned to work in á clinic which occupied two floors of a brownstone building in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Beth Israel leased the first two floors of the brownstone from the defendant, and the defendant provided Beth Israel with maintenance services which included garbage Collection, cleaning, and plumbing repairs.
There is no merit, however, to the defendant’s claim that it was error to preclude its witness from testifying that maintenance of the carpeting was Beth Israel’s responsibility. Although the parol evidence rule does not bar “evidence to clarify an ambiguity caused by the absence of particulars from the writing” (Stage Club Corp. v West Realty Co., 212 AD2d 458, 459; see also, Ruggiero v Long Is. R. R., 161 AD2d 622), the witness produced by the defendant was not competent to testify regarding the intent of the parties at the time the lease was made, and the defense counsel failed to establish a proper foundation for the witness to offer testimony regarding the custom or trade usage underlying certain phrases in the lease.
The defendant’s remaining contentions are without merit, or relate to issues which are not properly brought up for review by the appeal from the interlocutory judgment apportioning liability. Rosenblatt, J. P., Miller, Ritter and Sullivan, JJ., concur.