No Rent Abatement for Period Before Tenants Notified Landlord of Bedbug Condition

Two former co-tenants sued landlord in small claims court for the return of their security deposits and damage to their property resulting from a bedbug condition. Landlord in turn claimed that tenants owed back rent. The court ruled against landlord, and awarded tenants a total of $4,000. Landlord appealed and won, in part. Tenants proved the existence of a bedbug condition that made the apartment uninhabitable as of May 23, 2010, causing constructive eviction. Tenants therefore weren’t responsible for rent payment starting June 1, 2010, and were each entitled to the return of their respective $625 security deposits. But tenants weren’t entitled to damages for the breach of warranty of habitability equal to rent paid for the last nine days of May 2010 because they didn’t notify landlord of the condition until May 23 and landlord was entitled to a reasonable amount of time to correct the condition. There was no proof that landlord was on notice of the condition before May 23.

Gawad v. Aviad: 2012 NY Slip Op 51851(U), 2012 WL 4447437 (App. T. 2 Dept.; 9/19/12; Weston, JP, Rios, Solomon, JJ)