Tenant Didn't Violate Agreement Not to Contact Agency About Repairs

Landlord sued to evict tenant for failing to provide access for extermination and inspection. Landlord and tenant signed a settlement agreement in court that gave landlord a judgment and issuance of an eviction warrant. The agreement also delayed eviction for two years. During this period, tenant agreed not to contact the HPD, DHCR, or "any other agency or form" regarding repairs or conditions in the apartment or the building. If tenant complied for two years, the eviction warrant would be vacated. Less than two weeks before the end of the probation period, landlord asked the court for permission to execute the eviction warrant. Landlord claimed that tenant had contacted a local senior center to complain about landlord's supposed failure to give tenant a rent-stabilized renewal lease. The court ruled for landlord. Tenant appealed and won. The long-term, elderly tenant didn't violate the settlement agreement. The senior center that tenant complained to was a private, community-based, nonprofit institution. It wasn't the type of housing-related agency or forum that the agreement was concerned with. And tenants' complaint about the absence of a renewal lease didn't relate to apartment repairs or conditions within the meaning of the settlement agreement. The court also noted that there were public policy concerns about the agreement's ban on tenant-initiated complaints about repairs or conditions.

One Convent Avenue Realty Corp. v. Earley: NYLJ, 1/8/08, p. 32, col. 1 (App. T. 1 Dept.; McKeon, PJ, Davis, Schoenfeld, JJ)