Tenant Substantially Altered Apartment

(Decision submitted by Sherwin Belkin of the Manhattan law firm of Belkin Burden Wenig & Goldman, LLP, attorneys for the landlord.) Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for substantially altering his apartment without landlord's consent. Landlord's general contractor and several other tenants testified in court that they had observed tenant doing major construction work in the bathroom and other areas of the apartment. The court ruled for landlord. While prior landlord gave up the right to object to renovations started by prior tenant, tenant had performed new work, including removal of walls, erection of new walls, and changing plumbing fixtures. These changes weren't cosmetic, as claimed by tenant. During the course of the renovations, another tenant's electricity was cut off.

Village Realty LLC v. Wolohojian: L&T Index No. 74454/98 (Civ. Ct. NY 1/12/00; Lau, J) [8-pg. doc.]