Tenant Damaged Kitchen Fixtures

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for nuisance. Landlord's termination notice stated that tenant caused substantial damage to his apartment by removing, rendering unusable, and disposing of four brand-new kitchen base cabinets, four brand-new kitchen wall cabinets, and a new kitchen plywood and linoleum tile floor. Tenant asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial. He claimed that the termination notice was defective because it didn't sufficiently notify tenant of the reason that landlord terminated his tenancy. The court ruled for tenant. Landlord appealed and won. If landlord proved the claims stated in the termination notice, he would have grounds to evict tenant under Rent Stabilization Code Section 2524.3(b) for substantially damaging the apartment. Tenant's claim that landlord's workers had removed the fixtures raised questions of fact that should be raised at trial.

323 3rd St. LLC v. Ortiz: NYLJ, 12/11/06, p. 39, col. 2 (App. T. 2 Dept.; Pesce, PJ, Weston Patterson, Belen, JJ)