Landlord Must Pay for Repainting Tenant's Bathrooms

Tenant shareholder sued landlord cooperative corporation for the cost of repainting and wallpapering his bathroom walls after landlord’s defective repairs. Although tenant had no leaks in his apartment, landlord damaged his bathrooms and performed defective repairs while doing exploratory work to find the source of a leak in the building. Tenant then hired a contractor to restore his walls and ceilings to their original condition. Landlord claimed that the work tenant did was decorative, and therefore landlord wasn’t responsible. But tenant’s occupancy agreement stated that landlord must pay for all necessary repairs, except those caused by tenant’s own negligence or misuse. Since landlord entered tenant’s apartment and did work to find a leak that didn’t originate in tenant’s unit, landlord was entirely responsible for the damage caused by this work. The tenant won and was awarded $850.

Baker v. Bay Terrace Coop Section XII: NYLJ, 7/22/10, p. 27, col. 1 (Civ. Ct. Queens; Edwards, J)