possession, the court now grants the motion and orders that Respondent be restored to
legal possession upon payment of the amount required by the last court order, plus April
2025, and denies Respondent's request for payment of additional legal fees.
PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On March 25th, the deadline for
Respondent to pay the rent arrears and fees so that he could be restored to possession, he
moved to extend his time for compliance (NYSCEF Doc. 27). The motion was supported
by a letter from the Riseboro Community Partnership indicating that Respondent was a
military veteran, had been working with Riseboro to obtain payment of the arrears, had
been approved by the Department of Social Services for payment of rent arrears, and that
they were waiting for the checks to be delivered by DSS to its office. The motion was
granted insofar as it extended Respondent's time to pay but required an additional
$300.00 payment for legal fees (NYSCEF Doc. 30). The order required payment of
$39,203.00 by March 31st (id.).
By March 31st the checks had still not been delivered to Petitioner or to DSS's
courthouse office. Respondent again moved to extend his time to pay so that he could be
restored to possession of the apartment (NYSCEF Doc. 31). He appeared in court with a
copy of an approval for payment by DSS of $34,903.00 and certified bank checks
totaling $4,300.00, for a total of $39,203.00. He also had a page from a DSS benefits
printout indicating that the checks had been "issued" on March 25th. This court signed
the order to show cause and, because Respondent's checks and the DSS approval,
ordered Petitioner to restore Respondent to physical possession of the apartment
immediately, pending the hearing of the motion.