Scaffolding Blocked Three Rooms

Landlord, owner of a co-op apartment's shares, sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for nonpayment of rent. Tenant claimed breach of the warranty of habitability because scaffolding put up around the building blocked three rooms for a year. The trial court gave tenant a 50 percent rent abatement for 10 months. Landlord appealed, claiming that it wasn't responsible for the scaffolding and that there was no breach of the warranty of habitability. Landlord's appeal was dismissed. Since landlord owned the shares to tenant's apartment, it was responsible---even though the co-op board had made the decision to do the work requiring scaffolding. Landlord didn't explain at trial what steps it took to alleviate the condition or explain why it couldn't help speed up the work.

Pickman Realty v. Hess: NYLJ, p. 27, col. 4 (6/22/93) (App. T. 2 Dept.; Aronin, JP, Chetta, Patterson, JJ)