Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. Wins Residential Non-Payment Trial, Defeats Tenant’s Overcharge Defense and Counterclaim, and Obtains a Large Money Judgment
Representing a New York City landlord concerning a rent stabilized apartment, Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., overcame the tenant’s overcharge claim, achieved a complete victory in a residential non-payment trial, and obtained a possessory and monetary judgment against the tenant for over $50,000 in rent arrears and a warrant of eviction. The warrant issued in less than 24 hours after our post-trial request.
The tenant was the first rent stabilized tenant of the apartment following the vacatur of a rent controlled tenant many decades ago. She stopped paying rent and accrued tens of thousands of dollars of arrears. The landlord turned to Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., for help.
We served the required five-day notice and 14-day rent demand and commenced a non-payment summary eviction proceeding in the housing court. The tenant hired a private attorney who interposed an answer asserting various defenses and counterclaims, including, breach of warranty of habitability and overcharge, and questioning whether the landlord’s limited liability company was a valid New York entity based on allegations of lack of required publishing at the time of creation.
First, we subpoenaed the Department of State and obtained certified records proving that the landlord entity was duly organized and published. Next, we obtained and closely analyzed the DHCR registration and case list history for the subject apartment. We also obtained archived case records for several prior housing court cases concerning this tenant spanning several decades.
At trial we established our client’s prima facie case by introducing the certified deed, multiple dwelling registration, and DHCR filings, and introducing the tenant’s signed lease renewals and ledger of arrears.
The tenant argued that she was being overcharged despite the landlord charging her a preferential rent. On cross examination we demonstrated that the tenant was the first rent stabilized tenant of the apartment following a rent controlled tenancy, that the tenant (while represented by counsel) settled a prior proceeding confirming the legal rent and waiving overcharge, and that a contemporaneous lease renewal was executed confirming the exact preferential rent agreed upon.
The court analyzed the issues and correctly concluded that the pre-2019 law applied barring consideration of increases more than four years before the claim, that the tenant’s remedy would have been to file a fair market rent appeal and the deadline to do so long expired, and that the DHCR exercises exclusive jurisdiction over a fair market rent appeal. The court also ruled that the tenant’s prior settlement of a housing court proceeding (confirming the rent and waiving overcharge) is a lawful exception to the rule against the waiver of benefits of rent stabilization and should not be disturbed.
The tenant also abandoned her breach of warranty of habitability claims at trial after the landlord worked diligently to obtain access to the apartment and performed repairs, once on notice of them.
After trial, the court awarded our client a possessory and money judgment for over $50,000 together with a warrant and stayed execution of the warrant for only five days. We immediately contacted our marshal, who submitted a warrant application. The court issued a warrant in less than 24 hours.
Vladimir Mironenko, co-managing partner of Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C.’s landlord-tenant group, represented the landlord in the housing court proceeding and conducted the trial.