Co-op Corporation Must Abate Lead Paint Hazard

Rent-stabilized tenant in a co-op building sued the apartment owner and co-op corporation for damages, claiming that his child was harmed by lead paint in the apartment. The co-op corporation claimed that it wasn't responsible because it didn't own the apartment. The court ruled for the co-op and dismissed the case against it. Tenant appealed and won. Local Law 1 of 1982 placed the duty to abate lead paint upon the owner of a multiple dwelling. The regulations didn't define what "owner of a multiple dwelling" meant, and there were no controlling descriptions under the Multiple Dwelling Law, the Rent Stabilization Code, or the Housing and Maintenance Code. The appeals court found that an owner of a "multiple dwelling" was the owner of a building, not the proprietary lessee who only owned shares to a particular apartment. So the cooperative corporation was responsible for the lead-based paint hazard in tenant's apartment.

Essilfieobeng v. Ahyia: NYLJ, 3/8/12, p. 22, col. 1 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Tom, JP, Saxe, DeGrasse, Freedman, Abdus-Salaam, JJ)