Tenant Didn't Timely Notify Landlord Before Filing Complaint

(Decision submitted by Manhattan attorney Eileen O'Toole, who represented the landlord.) Tenant complained of a reduction in services based on various apartment conditions. The DRA ruled for tenant and reduced her rent. Landlord appealed and won. Landlord argued that tenant didn't notify landlord by a timely prior letter, as required by Tenant Protection Regulations. Tenant filed her complaint on Sept. 30, 2004. She was required to send landlord a letter listing the conditions sometime between Aug. 1, 2004, and Sept. 20, 2004. Although tenant attached copies of prior letters to her complaint, they were from 1994, 2001, and early 2004. None of those letters were sent to landlord between 10 and 60 days before her complaint was filed. Also, those letters were vague. So landlord didn't get proper notice of the conditions complained of before tenant filed her complaint with the DHCR.

Nassau Cedarhurst Co.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. TI710004RO (8/18/06) [3-pg. doc.)