DSS-Assisted Tenants Owe Back Rent
LVT Number: 13313
Landlord sued to evict rooming house tenants for nonpayment of rent. Tenants claimed they had no landlord-tenant relationship with landlord because DSS had placed them in the rooming house and acted as their agent. DSS had stopped paying the rent after tenants lost their certification. The court ruled against tenants. DSS was authorized to act on tenants' behalf and a landlord-tenant relationship did exist. The court awarded judgment to landlord, gave tenants a 20 percent rent abatement for breach of the warranty of habitability, and delayed execution of the eviction warrant to give tenants a chance to pay the back rent.
Plainfield Inn, Inc. v. Carson: NYLJ, p. 31, col. 5 (5/26/99) (Nassau Dist. Ct.; Stack, J)