Former Landlord Still Responsible for Uncorrected Illegal Alteration

DOB issued a violation notice to landlord for work performed in the building cellar without a permit: putting up partition walls to create four SRO units. DOB later issued a second violation to landlord for failing to comply with a DOB order to correct these conditions. Landlord claimed that it no longer owned the building and wasn't responsible for the violation. The ALJ ruled against landlord and fined it $3,000. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord wasn't charged as the building owner, but as the entity that failed to comply with a DOB order to correct conditions cited in the first order. That fact that landlord sold the building in between the two violations wasn't, by itself, a defense. And landlord made no claim that it wasn't possible to correct the initial violation while it still owned the building.

1496 Bushwick LLC: ECB App. No. 1100038 (7/22/11) [3-pg. doc.]