No Rent Deposit Ordered Where Landlord Sought Delay

Facts: Landlord sued to evict loft tenant in 1996. The trial court ruled against landlord and dismissed the case. Landlord appealed and won. The appeals court said the case should be reopened. Landlord asked the court to put the case back on the calendar, to order tenant to deposit rent into court retroactively and prospectively while the case was pending, and to mark the case off calendar while the Loft Board ruled on whether the unit was subject to the Loft Law. Court: Landlord loses. The old rent deposit law, in effect before July 1997, applied to this case. Under that law, landlord was entitled to a rent deposit only if tenant had made two delay requests. In this case, any delay wasn't tenant's fault. Landlord put the case on the trial court's calendar only to ask for the rent deposit, and landlord was causing a delay by seeking a ruling from the Loft Board.

EBW, LLC v. Geralds: NYLJ, p. 29, col. 5 (7/7/99) (Civ. Ct. NY; Evans, J)