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Tenant Refused to Pay Use and Occupancy While Case Pending
Landlord sued to eject rent-stabilized tenant. In two separate orders, the court directed tenant to pay for past and current use and occupancy while the case was pending. When tenant failed to comply, the court struck tenant’s answer and awarded possession to landlord. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant’s repeated failure to pay use and occupancy c...
Landlord Responsible for Exterminating Bedbugs in Tenants' Apartment
Tenants sued landlord for negligence, claiming that landlord never eradicated a bedbug infestation in their apartment that began in 2012. Landlord claimed that it wasn’t responsible for the conditions in tenants’ apartment. The court ruled for tenants after a jury trial, and granted tenants’ request to direct a verdict o...
Contractor Mobilization Costs Included in Approved MCI Costs
Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on the installation of new cooling towers, oil to gas conversion, and tank abandonment. The DRA ruled for landlord in part, disallowing $100,000 in mobilization costs. Landlord and tenant both appealed. The DHCR ruled against tenant, who argued that the MCIs lowered landlord’s utility costs.
MCI Rent Hike Granted for Building-Wide Carpet Installation
Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on building-wide carpet installation. The DRA ruled for landlord, and tenants appealed. Tenants argued that carpet was previously installed in 1995 and that the replaced carpet hadn’t outlived its useful life. But landlord had received no prior MCI rent hike for building-wide carpet installation. So the useful life of the...
Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on building-wide installation of new windows. The DHCR ruled for landlord. One tenant filed an Article 78 appeal, claiming that the DHCR’s decision was unreasonable because she had refused to grant landlord access to install new windows. The court and appeals court ruled against tenant.
Landlord’s Negligence: Landlord Not Responsible for Shooting of Two Tenants in Vestibule
Tenant and the family of another tenant sued landlord for negligence after they were shot in the building’s public vestibule. One of the tenants died. Landlord asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial, claiming that it had no duty to protect tenants. The court ruled against landlord, who appealed and won.
Alterations to Apartments: Landlord Can Evict Tenants If They Don’t Remove Washing Machine
Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenants for keeping and using a washing machine in their apartment, in violation of their lease. Landlord and tenants, each represented by attorneys, signed a settlement agreement in court calling for the issuance of an eviction warrant but delaying execution on the warrant to give tenants the chance to cure by removing the wash...
Discrimination: Court Revokes Damages Awarded to Disabled Tenant
Disabled tenant complained to the New York City Commission on Human Rights (CHR) that landlord failed to provide a reasonable accommodation, in violation of the city’s Human Rights Law. Tenant was permanently wheelchair-bound following a car accident. She lived in a first-floor apartment in Astoria. Her husband or someone else had to carry her up and down the five stairs between the first flo...
Court Dismisses Roommate’s Claim of Illusory Tenancy
Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for nonprimary residence. Landlord claimed that tenant lived and worked in Switzerland, and that she had sublet the apartment to an occupant without landlord’s permission. The trial court ruled for landlord. Tenant admitted that she no longer lived in the apartment as her primary residence. Occupant claimed that there was an illusory tenancy and that sh...
Landlord’s Negligence: Landlord Not Responsible for Scalding Shower Water
Tenant sued landlord and its heating service provider following injuries suffered when she was scalded by hot water when showering. Both landlord and the heating service provider asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial. The court dismissed the case against the heating service provider but not against landlord. Landlord appealed and won. Landlord showed that the building&r...