Landlord Must Comply with Housing Court Order to Restore Services

Facts: HPD sued landlord for not providing heat and hot water. Landlord agreed in a stipulation to provide these services. HPD took landlord back to court a few months later because he still hadn't restored services. The court fined landlord $1,000, and he signed a second stipulation---personally promising to restore the services and pay the fine. The problems in the building continued, so HPD asked the court to find landlord in civil and criminal contempt. Landlord argued that the partnership that owned the building had filed for bankruptcy, and couldn't pay the fuel bills. The court found landlord in civil and criminal contempt, and landlord appealed. He claimed that he couldn't comply with the contempt order because both he and the partnership were broke. Court: Landlord must provide heat and hot water. Landlord had personally agreed to provide these services after the partnership had filed for bankruptcy, so his claim that the partnership couldn't pay was irrelevant. And landlord didn't prove his claim of personal insolvency.

HPD v. Skydell: NYLJ, p. 27, col. 3 (6/13/94) (App. T. 1 Dept.; Parness, JP, McCooe, Glen, JJ)