Tenant Not Responsible for Section 8 Rent Portion on Renewal
LVT Number: #22914
Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for nonpayment of rent. Tenant claimed that landlord improperly sought the Section 8 portion of her rent. The court ruled for tenant and dismissed that portion of the petition seeking more than tenant's share of the subsidized rent. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that it wasn't required to continue accepting tenant's Section 8 subsidy when her lease was deemed renewed in 2007. But landlord's prior acceptance of tenant's Section 8 rent subsidy was a "term and condition" of tenant's rent-stabilized lease that must be renewed. Landlord can't make a new agreement with tenant to pay the full lease rent because that changed the terms of tenant's rent-stabilized lease. Although landlord claimed that tenant had failed to recertify for Section 8 benefits, landlord's remedy was to start a holdover proceeding against tenant for breach of her lease.
Pinnacle Bronx West LLC v. Jennings: NYLJ, 9/23/10, p. 28, col. 4 (App. T. 1 Dept.; McKeon, PJ, Shulman, Hunter, JJ)