Tenant Refused Access for Alteration Work Not Authorized by DOB

March 23, 2016

LVT Number: #26782

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for failing to provide access to her apartment so that landlord could make necessary alterations. Landlord claimed that it needed to remove certain windows that opened onto interior airshafts and to seal the airshafts. The court ruled against landlord, finding that even if DOB permitted sealing the windows on the airshafts, the work would reduce the light and air to a room that tenant had long been using as a bedroom. Landlord appealed and lost. DOB had revoked landlord’s permit for the alteration work and issued a stop-work order.

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for failing to provide access to her apartment so that landlord could make necessary alterations. Landlord claimed that it needed to remove certain windows that opened onto interior airshafts and to seal the airshafts. The court ruled against landlord, finding that even if DOB permitted sealing the windows on the airshafts, the work would reduce the light and air to a room that tenant had long been using as a bedroom. Landlord appealed and lost. DOB had revoked landlord’s permit for the alteration work and issued a stop-work order. So landlord can’t claim that the work was necessary or required by law. Therefore, tenant’s refusal of access wasn’t a violation of the Rent Stabilization Code or tenant’s lease.

 
Ouyang v. Cromelin: 2016 NY Slip Op 26041, 2016 WL 635784 (App. T. 1 Dept.; 2/17/16; Schoenfeld, JP, Shulman, Hunter Jr., JJ)

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