DOB Can't Prove Landlord Violated Partial Vacate Order

DOB issued a violation notice to landlord in 2015 for failing to comply with a building vacate order issued in 2010 for the fire-damaged house and illegal cellar apartment. Landlord argued that he bought the building in 2008, that no one had lived in the cellar since then, and that he never received a vacate order. He also said that the partial vacate order wasn’t filed with the Queens County Clerk’s Office, as required by Code Section 28-207.4.2. The ALJ ruled against landlord and fined him $2,400. Landlord appealed and won. Landlord’s undisputed claim was that the cellar unit was unoccupied and used for storage on the date of the violation. So DOB failed to prove that landlord violated the partial vacate order. The fine was revoked. 

Waters: ECB App. No. 1600154 (3/31/16) [3-pg. doc.]