Bathroom Floor Collapsed

DOB issued a violation notice to landlord after the bathroom floor in a first-floor apartment collapsed into the basement, injuring the 92-year-old tenant of the apartment. Landlord's super testified that one week before the collapse, he responded to tenant's complaint that the bathroom was flooded. The flood was caused by an overflowing toilet that had been stuffed with various materials. The super inspected the basement ceiling on that date and saw no damage. Landlord testified that it bought the building in 2009 and an engineer found the building structurally safe. There were only "shrinkage" cracks in the basement ceiling. After the collapse, landlord found that there was no waterproofing underneath the bathroom tiles, and there had been corrosion of the wiring reinforcing the concrete slab. Landlord's engineer testified that older buildings didn't have waterproofing or heavier slab reinforcement. The ALJ ruled against landlord, finding that the toilet repair was inadequate and the basement ceiling cracks put landlord on notice of a potential problem. Landlord was fined $5,000. Landlord appealed and won. DOB didn't prove that the floor collapse was caused by landlord's failure to maintain the premises or that landlord could have prevented it. The violation was dismissed, and the fine revoked.

5420 Management Corp.: ECB App. No. 1100085 (7/21/11) [3-pg. doc.]