(a) A good faith complaint, by or in behalf of the tenant to a governmental
authority of the landlord's alleged violation of any health or safety law, regulation, code,
or ordinance, or any law [*3]or regulation which has as
its objective the regulation of the premises used for dwelling purposes. . .
5. In an action or proceeding instituted against a tenant of premises or a unit
which this section is applicable, a refutable presumption that the landlord is acting in
retaliation shall be created if the tenant establishes that the landlord served a notice to
quit, or instituted an action or proceeding to recover possession, or attempted to
substantially alter the terms or the tenancy, within six months after:
(a) A good faith complaint was made, by or in behalf of the tenant, to a
governmental authority of the landlord's violation of any health or safety law, regulation,
code, or ordinance, or any law or regulation which has as its objective the regulation of
premises used for dwelling purposes or which pertains to the offense of rent gouging in
the third, second or first degree. . .
Burden of Proof
The establishment of the rebutable presumption of retaliation appears determinative
in this action as the landlord did not testify. "In the absence of the retaliation
presumption, the tenant has the burden to establish that "landlord's sole or overriding"
reason for terminating the tenancy was to retaliate for the tenants right to report code
violations. . . , to succeed in this difficult task, the tenant must show the landlord's state
of mind, purposes, and motives, relying almost exclusively on circumstantial evidence. It
has been suggested that this may be accomplished either by showing affirmatively that