HPD's Violation Notice Concerning Heat/Hot Water Was Defective

HPD sued landlord, seeking a court order requiring landlord to provide heat and hot water after a claimed outage. HPD also sought civil penalties. Landlord argued that HPD's violation notice was defective. The court agreed and dismissed the case. Although the violation notice indicated that payment of $250 would satisfy civil penalties, the notice failed to advise landlord that HPD, if requested, would confer with landlord to ensure compliance. The violation notice also stated that the violation must be corrected "immediately" but failed to specify that the violation must be corrected within 24 hours as set forth in Housing Maintenance Code Section 27-2115(k)(ii). In court, landlord stated that she cured the violation within 24 hours of the violation notice, that the interruption in heat was due to boiler maintenance, that tenants were given notice, and that this was a rare event. The court found that the violation notice didn't give landlord adequate notice of HMC requirements and dismissed the case.

HPD v. France: Index No. 066176/18, 2019 NY Slip Op 29081 (Civ. Ct. NY; 3/22/19; Bryan, J)