Landlord Fined for Not Submitting a Mold Remediation Work Plan

DEP issued two violation notices to landlord based on failure to submit a mold remediation work plan and failure to file a mold post-remediation notice. At a hearing, landlord claimed that DEP's notices were defective. The ALJ found that, one notice properly gave landlord the mandatory seven-day time allowance to file the post-remediation assessment notice and, contrary to landlord's claim, failure to give square footage of the project space was of no consequence. Landlord appealed and, for the first time, argued that he was the managing agent and therefore an improper party.

The ECB found that landlord was properly named on the notice. It was undisputed that mold remediation took place at the building without filing either of the required notices. The ECB did agree that the violation concerning post-remediation referred only to HPD informing landlord on Feb. 3, 2021, that mold remediation work at the cited location was completed. So the violation didn't establish that the time period for filing the seven-day notice had passed. This violation was dismissed, and the remaining penalty was $800.

DEP v. Katzenstein: ECB App. No. 2101101 (11/18/21)[4-pg. document]