Tenant Can Challenge Denial of Request to Vacate Default

Facts: Landlord NYCHA charged tenant with violating its rules by allowing unauthorized family members to live with her. Tenant didn't appear for a hearing, and landlord issued a default order on Dec. 3, 1996. However, landlord didn't send notice of the order to tenant until April 1, 1997. Tenant got the notice on April 7 and filed a request to vacate the default the next day. Tenant claimed that she had never gotten notice that the hearing had been delayed to the date it was held on. NYCHA claimed that tenant's appeal wasn't filed on time, since it was filed more than four months after the default order was issued. The lower court ruled for landlord. Tenant appealed and won. NYCHA was then given permission to appeal to the Court of Appeals. Court: Landlord loses. The issue is whether the four-month limit for tenant to request to vacate an NYCHA default determination starts running upon entry of the default or upon denial of the tenant's request to vacate it. The court found that the time limit starts running from receipt of the denial of the request to vacate the default. Since landlord didn't mail notice of the default to tenant for four months, landlord couldn't claim the four-month time limit to appeal applied.

Yarbough v. Franco: NYLJ, 10/27/00, p. 23, col. 5 (Ct. App. NY; Ciparick, J)