Landlord Responsible for Tenant's Illegal Short-Term Rental of Apartment

DOB issued a violation notice to landlord based on tenant's transient rental of his apartment. OATH sustained the violation and denied landlord's appeal. Landlord then filed an Article 78 court appeal, claiming that OATH's decision was arbitrary and unreasonable because landlord didn't know that tenant was renting the apartment out through Airbnb. The court ruled against landlord. NYC Admin. Code Section 28-210.3 makes landlords responsible for tenant's illegal short-term rentals if landlord "permits" the short-term rentals. This term was sufficiently broad to include situations where landlord, through failure to monitor activities in its building, didn't know tenant used the space illegally. Through reasonable diligence, landlord could have learned that tenant rented his apartment for short-term rentals for over a year before landlord received the DOB violation. Landlord had ample time to discover the illegal use.

JNPJ Tenth Ave LLC v DOB: Index No. 1002682018, NYLJ, 1/30/19, p. 21, col. 2 (Sup. Ct. NY; 1/16/19; St. George, J)