Apartment Robbed Through Opening Created During Landlord's Repairs

Tenant-shareholders of a Mitchell-Lama co-op apartment sued landlord co-op corporation and its managing agent for negligence after the apartment was robbed. The apartment had a terrace, connected by a door to the living room. When tenant moved into the apartment in 1995, he complained that the terrace door was defective because it allowed water to seep into the apartment. After five years, landlord finally sent a contractor to replace the terrace door. But the door was the wrong size, and the contractor covered the opening to the terrace by placing a plastic sheet over it. Because it would take a few days to bring back the right size replacement door and it was cold out, the managing agent advised tenant that he should leave the apartment for a few days. Tenant returned three days later and found his apartment door ajar when he stepped off the elevator. The apartment had been ransacked, and many of his possessions had been stolen. Tenant claimed that landlord failed to adequately secure the opening from the terrace into the apartment. The court dismissed the case, finding that criminal activity wasn’t foreseeable.

Tenant appealed, and the case was reopened. Tenant had the only key to the apartment door, and no one had broken in through that door. It seemed likely that someone came in through the terrace. Landlord had created the condition that left the terrace unsecured and therefore could be responsible. A trial was needed to determine the facts.

Udoh v. Inwood Gardens, Inc.: NYLJ, 2/25/10, p. 35, col. 4 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Mazzarelli, JP, Catterson, Moskowitz, Manzanet-Daniels, JJ)