HPD Improperly Issued Vacate Order

In September 1992, HPD arrived at a building one morning, and ordered seven legal tenants to vacate it immediately. HPD did this to rid the neighborhood of a crack house operating in the building, which was being managed by a 7A administrator. Tenants sued HPD, claiming that HPD's vacate order was arbitrary, capricious, and invalid. The court agreed that HPD's order was improper. Tenants are entitled to 24-hour notice before a vacate order becomes effective. In this case, tenants got 90 minutes' notice. Tenants therefore didn't have an opportunity to go to court to try to stop HPD. They were entitled to do so by law. Also, conditions in the building weren't so hazardous as to warrant immediate evacuation of the building. If HPD's intent was to rid the building of drug dealers, the appropriate action would be to sue to evict those tenants responsible for the wrongdoing. Current building conditions prevented the tenants from immediately returning to the building. But the court ordered HPD to present a plan within 30 days for restoring tenants to possession.

[Matter of Mendez: NYLJ, p. 25, col. 1 (1/11/93) (Sup. Ct. NY; Lobis, J)].