40% lower court's rent abatement for rat and cockroach infestations, and kitchen cabinets
damaged as a result of unsuccessful extermination efforts).
ANALYSIS
The court credits respondent's testimony, and the documentary evidence submitted by
respondent, including the violations placed by HPD for the conditions in the apartment, and finds
that petitioner breached the warranty of habitability by failing to timely and properly repair [*5]multiple conditions throughout the subject premises. RPL§
235(b); see also Park West Management Corp. v. Mitchell, supra. Petitioner did not present any
credible evidence that respondent meaningfully denied petitioner access to perform the repairs.
Nor did petitioner present anyone with first-hand knowledge of any repair attempts prior to
March 2019, between three and eight months after HPD placed multiple violations for conditions
found in the apartment, and more than one year after receiving notice of the conditions through
an HP action commenced by respondent in January 2018, with a consent order between the
parties on March 14, 2018.
The evidence adduced at trial supports a finding that since petitioner took ownership of the
subject building in 2016, there have been multiple persistent conditions in need of repair
throughout respondent's apartment. Relevant to this proceeding, from July 2018 to March 2019,
HPD placed twenty (20) "A" and "B" violations for conditions at the premises. Furthermore,
while it is undisputed that all but one repair condition was resolved in March 2019, the remaining
issue, a pervasive roach infestation, has not been abated, and in fact escalated. While in July of
2018, HPD placed a "B" violation for roaches throughout the apartment, in April 2019 HPD