Tenants Can't Sue HUD, DHCR for Submetering Clause in Lease

Tenants and former tenants of Yonkers Section 8 apartment complex sued HUD and the DHCR. Landlord had submetered electricity at the buildings when it refinanced the building in 2008 and, under a lease form mandated by the DHCR in 2006, had charged the utilities as "additional rent." This resulted in the eviction of some tenants who couldn't pay the additional rent and put others at risk of eviction. Both HUD and the DHCR asked the court to dismiss the case. The court ruled in their favor.

HUD had no duty to make a determination as to whether utilities may be considered additional rent under federal law or to investigate tenants' claims that the submetering resulted in tenant displacement. The court also agreed with the DHCR that the federal court had no authority to review judgments of state courts. Tenants incorrectly claimed that, in the individual eviction cases, the Yonkers City court didn't rule on the law governing the DHCR lease. Tenants claimed that it was the DHCR lease, not the city court decisions, that injured them. But tenants had faced eviction for nonpayment of electric charges under the lease and that was the basis for their claim. Tenants in effect complained of injuries by state court judgments and invited the federal court to review and reject those judgments. The federal court didn't have authority to do so.

Thompson v. Donovan: Index No. 13-CV-2988, 2014 WL 5149037 (SDNY; 10/14/14; Seibel, DJ)