Tenant Mental Health Care Provider Not Responsible for Fire Caused by Subtenant

Landlord’s insurer sued the tenant of several apartments for negligence and breach of contract. Tenant, a not-for-profit organization, sublet the apartments to individuals who participated in their support program for mental illness. Landlord claimed that tenant was responsible for a fire in one of the apartments where a subtenant smoked cigarettes. The court granted tenant’s request to dismiss the case. Landlord appealed and lost. Tenant owed no duty to landlord to take steps to prevent subtenant from smoking in the apartment. All participants in tenant’s program had to be able to live independently, and the degree of oversight provided by tenant under the terms of its agreement with subtenant was limited. Tenant’s lease also didn’t impose any obligation on tenant to repair the apartment after a fire or to answer for damages in a fire caused by its subtenant. 

Tower Insurance Company of New York v. Hands Across Long Island, Inc.: 2017 N.Y. Slip Op 02082, 2017 WL 1067833 (App. Div. 2 Dept.; 3/22/17; Rivera, JP, Balkin, Chambers, Cohen, JJ)