"harassment," in part, as contacting a tenant to induce the tenant to vacate the tenant's apartment
unless the owner making such contact makes a number of disclosures in writing, including,
inter alia, that the tenant may reject an offer and that the tenant may seek guidance of
counsel. N.Y.C. Admin. Code §27-2004(a)(48)(f-2). Petitioner did not rebut Respondent's
evidence that it engaged in the conduct that Respondent described, which constitutes harassment
as defined, supra.
The Housing Maintenance Code entitles tenants to seek to have housing maintenance code
violations placed on the subject premises, to seek an order from a Court restraining an owner
from engaging in such conduct, and to impose civil penalties payable to the New York City
Commissioner of Finance. N.Y.C. Admin. Code §27-2115(m)(2), 226-228 E. 26th St.
LLC v. Rhodes, 2008 NY Misc. LEXIS 7516 (Civ. Ct. NY Co. 2008). N.Y.C. Admin. Code
§27-2115(m)(2) provides that, upon a finding of harassment, the Court shall impose a civil
penalty of not less than $2,000.00 and not more than $10,000.00. The Court therefore directs
Petitioner to restrain from engaging in any conduct in violation of N.Y.C. Admin. Code
§27-2004(a)(48)(f-2). The Court imposes a penalty of $3,500.00 on Petitioner, payable to
the New York City Commissioner of Finance.
Accordingly, it is
ORDERED that Petitioner's cause of action for nonpayment of rent is dismissed without
prejudice, and it is further
ORDERED that Respondent's defenses of laches and tender and refusal are dismissed as
moot without prejudice, and it is further
ORDERED that the Court awards Respondent a judgment against Petitioner on Respondent's
counterclaim sounding in breach of the warranty of habitability in an amount of $10,689.79