Thus, when Prime transferred the subject properties back without turning over the security deposits, it denied plaintiffs the protection the funds were designed to secure pursuant to General Obligations Law § 7-105. As successor landlords, plaintiffs are within the class of individuals the statute was designed to protect. This conclusion is reinforced by the Legislature's effort to prevent landlords no longer in control of properties from unlawfully retaining tenants' security deposits and insuring that tenants will be able conveniently to obtain the return of their deposits from the current landlords of the properties in which they reside. To enable successor landlords to act as a trustee with regard to these deposits, they must be provided with a remedy to secure the return of these deposits from those outgoing landlords who refuse to turn them over.
Furthermore, as examination of the legislative history and purpose shows, General [*6]Obligations Law § 7-105 was designed to prevent a landlord's financial loss in the event of a tenant default. Since the unlawful retention of these deposits is the type of conduct that General Obligations Law § 7-105 was intended to prevent and constitutes a clear violation of the statute, providing successor landlords with a private right of action to pursue their statutory right to the receipt of tenant security deposits from prior landlords promotes the legislative goal.
Moreover, since such a private right of action is not incompatible with the enforcement mechanism chosen by the Legislature, it is consistent with the legislative scheme (see generally Uhr v East Greenbush Cent. School Dist., 94 NY2d 32, 40 [1999]; Sheehy v Big Flats Community Day, 73 NY2d 629 [1989], supra).