Tenants Can Block Landlord from Starting Eviction Proceedings

After tenants received 30-day termination notices from landlord, they asked the court for a preliminary injunction to stop landlord from commencing eviction proceedings in housing court after the 30-day period was up. The termination notices claimed that tenants were unregulated, but tenants claimed that they were subject to rent stabilization and not properly deregulated. Tenants claimed that, if landlord was allowed to bring housing court eviction proceedings against them, they would probably be included on a “blacklist” resulting from the Office of Court Administration’s policy of selling names of tenants sued in housing court.

The court ruled for tenants and granted the injunction. The court found that tenants were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim, and that the damage done by being named in a housing court action resulted in potentially extreme hardship for tenants in obtaining housing in the future--whether they won in housing court or not. Tenants also risked losing their homes and would be irreparably harmed if landlord was allowed to proceed with the housing court actions before tenants had a chance to conduct discovery.

Bernhardt v. 411 Clinton Street Holdings, LLC: Index No. 9422/2015, NYLJ No. 1202759979206 (Sup. Ct. Kings; 5/13/16; Saitta, J)