Category Archives: Landlord Legal Issues

The 21 Most Common Mistakes Made By NY Landlords

New York landlords often make costly mistakes by failing to: Use rental applications to screen tenants. Use criminal/credit/tenant screeningreports. Use move-in/move-out checklists. Obtain payment of security deposit and rent and tenant’s signature on the lease before giving the keys to the tenant. Include attorney’s fees, late feesand added rent provisions in the lease. Provide the […]

Refusal to Accept Section 8 Is Not Discrimination

The tenant, who has Parkinson’s disease, hypertension and chronic low back pain, alleged that thelandlordviolated the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by discriminating against him due to his disability. He claimedthat the landlordinitially agreedto accept rent under the federal Housing and Urban Development Department’s Section 8 Housing Program and to help him obtain such funds. However, […]

NY Tenant Cancels Lease Due To Second-Hand Smoke

A landlord’s failure to resolve a tenant’s complaints of cigarette smoke emanating from the apartment below justified a rent abatement and dismissal of the landlord’sattempt to recoup the remainder of the unpaid lease, ruled a Nassau County, New YorkDistrict Court judge. However, he rejected the tenant’s counterclaims for reimbursement of paid rent and “thousands” for […]

Abandoned Building Owner Not Liable For Murder

Mr. Acosta was dragged into an abandonedbuilding, robbed and murdered by Mr. Melendez-Sanchez. The plaintiff, administratix of Acosta’s estate, claimed that thebuilding was a public nuisance as it was abandoned and unlocked. She argued if the building had been properly sealed, Melendez-Sanchez would not have been able to break in and murder Acosta. The Kings […]

NY Attorney’s Rent Demand Is Defective

A New York commercial landlord sought to recover possession of the premises and $19,449 in rent. The rent demand served on the tenant  was in the form of a letter from the landlord’s attorney which: (a) did not state whether it was a three-day notice, a five-day notice, or something else; (b) did not state that […]

NY Landlord Awarded Rent Judgement

A black letter rule of New York law prohibits awarding the landlord a money judgment for unpaid rents unless the tenant was personally served with the eviction papers (notice of petition and petition). Service may be made in one of three ways: (1) personal service (directly on the tenant); (2) substituted service (directly on some […]

Compensatory And Punitive Damages For Housing Discrimination

Compensatory and punitive damages are an effective and highly publicized means of enforcing federal housing laws.Victims of housing discrimination can seek compensatory, as well as punitive damages. Compensatory damages consist of special and general damages.Special damages include actual out-of-pocket expenses or losses, including actual expenses such as moving and storage expenses and the losses that […]

Eviction Petition Sufficiently Alleges Drug Sales

New York Tenants were served with a notice of termination for using the apartment for the illegal trade of the sale, storage, packaging or manufacturing of a controlled substance. The notice contained a seven-point list of facts surrounding the arrest of the tenants inside the premises where they were in possession of marijuana.The tenants claimed […]

If Your Tenant Dies In New York

When a tenant dies in New York, landlords expose themselves to liability by granting unauthorized persons access to the apartment or by removing the deceased tenant’s property from the apartment. Only a duly appointed executor (designated in the will), administrator (if there is no will) or Public Administrator (if there is no will and no […]

Landlord May Cancel Lease With Porn Merchant

A New York tenant who intended to operate a store for the sale of pornographic materials has an affirmative duty to disclose that fact to the landlord, because such a store may have an adverse impact on neighboring properties. When the tenant responded to the landlord’s ad for a vacant store for rent, he stated […]