Park Hill Terrace Associates v. Glennon
| Court | New Jersey Superior Court – Appellate Division |
| Writing for the Court | PER CURIAM |
| Citation | 146 N.J.Super. 271,369 A.2d 938 |
| Decision Date | 07 January 1977 |
| Parties | PARK HILL TERRACE ASSOCIATES, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Stephanie GLENNON et al., Defendants-Appellants. |
Page 271
v.
Stephanie GLENNON et al., Defendants-Appellants.
Appellate Division.
Decided Jan. 7, 1977.
[369 A.2d 939]
Page 273
William Goldberg, Hackensack, for defendants-appellants.Jay W. Greenstone, Hackensack, for plaintiff-respondent (Greenstone & Sokol, Hackensack, attorneys).
Before Judges FRITZ, CRAHAY and ARD.
PER CURIAM.
The county district court consolidated three summary dispossess actions and following trial gave judgment of possession to respondent landlord. The warrants for possession were stayed pending this appeal.
The issues addressed to us now are whether air conditioning may constitute an element of habitability so as to allow for an abatement in rent payments where there is a failure of it, and secondly, if such be the case, whether timely and reasonable efforts by a landlord to cure such a defect will defeat the claimed abatement.
Respondent landlord owns property located in the Borough of Fort Lee on which is situated an apartment house of approximately 100 residential dwellings. Central air conditioning is provided to tenants and is contemplated under written leases. (The form lease, however, provides that in [369 A.2d 940] the event that air conditioning, as well as heat and hot water, should cease for reasons beyond the control of the landlord, the tenants' obligations under the lease--presumably including the payment of rent--would not be affected, nor would the tenant have any other claim because of it. That lease provision is not advanced on this appeal.) The three defendant tenants, as well as 52 others, withheld a portion of their August 1975 rent, claiming the
Page 274
total inoperability of the building's air conditioning system. Under plaintiff's complaint it was alleged that tenants Mitnick owed $60.50; Glennon owed $69.74 and Stoff owed $173.74; amounts the respective tenants withheld as being, in their judgment, fair rental abatements.A former officer of the tenants' association testified that he wrote a letter in May 1975 to the management giving them reasonable time to have the air conditioning repaired for the summer of 1975. He had had many conversations with management concerning the system since the situation had been deteriorating since 1973.
On behalf of appellant Mitnick his wife testified that she had been a resident of the premises for about two years and that in prior summers the air conditioning had broken down. In June 1975 there were days in which the air conditioning failed. She notified the management. She testified that on 11 specific dates in July the air conditioning did not work at all and that as a result living conditions were unbearable. Her family could not sleep, she paced the floor at night and needed to take several showers each day to cool off. She left the apartment as early as possible each day. Her temperament was affected. She had to buy a fan. The temperature in the apartment reached 90 degrees on a few occasions and most of the time on the involved days was in the high eighties. She deduced 50% From her rent for those days of total inoperability of the air conditioning system.
The tenants Stoff had been lessees of the rremises for five years. Mrs. Stoff testified that with the air conditioning off the apartments were unbearably hot. It was difficult to sleep and meals could not be cooked. Sandwiches and salads had to be eaten. She pointed out as an example of the discomforture that she would dress her four-month-old infant for bed, anticipating a cool apartment, and that on the failure of the air conditioning it was necessary to redress her child and she had difficulty getting her back to sleep. At times the Stoffs could not sleep at all. On some occasions
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Mr. Stoff would take meat to his...To continue reading
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C. F. Seabrook Co. v. Beck
...questionable whether notice need be given in order to raise the defense of lack of habitability. In Park Hill Terrace Ass'n v. Glennon, 146 N.J.Super. 271,369 A.2d 938, certif. den., 74 N.J. 250, 377 A.2d 657 (1977), the tenants withheld rent because the air conditioning did not work. The t......
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Chess v. Muhammad
...a reasonable time after learning of the need to do so. Defendants appeal, contending that under Park Hill Terrace Assocs. v. Glennon, 146 N.J.Super. 271, 369 A.2d 938 (App.Div. 1977), cert. den. 74 N.J. 250, 377 A.2d 657 (1977), a tenant is entitled to an abatement in a summary dispossess p......
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Doric Realty Co. v. Union City Rent Leveling Bd.
...Auth. v. Scott, 137 N.J.Super. 110, 348 A.2d 195 (App.Div.1975); failure of air conditioning, Park Hill Terrace Assocs. v. Glennon, 146 N.J.Super. 271, 369 A.2d 938 (App.Div.1977), certif. den. 74 N.J. 250, 377 A.2d 657 (1977); absence of security, see Trentacost v. Brussel, 82 N.J. 214, 22......
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White v. Board of Review, Division of Employment Security, New Jersey Dept. of Labor and Industry
...This is the premise upon which she attacks the finding that she left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the work. [369 A.2d 938] While superficially attractive, the argument fails in view of the legislative policy inherent in the Page 270 Prior to a statutory amendment in 1......
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C. F. Seabrook Co. v. Beck
...questionable whether notice need be given in order to raise the defense of lack of habitability. In Park Hill Terrace Ass'n v. Glennon, 146 N.J.Super. 271,369 A.2d 938, certif. den., 74 N.J. 250, 377 A.2d 657 (1977), the tenants withheld rent because the air conditioning did not work. The t......
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Chess v. Muhammad
...a reasonable time after learning of the need to do so. Defendants appeal, contending that under Park Hill Terrace Assocs. v. Glennon, 146 N.J.Super. 271, 369 A.2d 938 (App.Div. 1977), cert. den. 74 N.J. 250, 377 A.2d 657 (1977), a tenant is entitled to an abatement in a summary dispossess p......
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Doric Realty Co. v. Union City Rent Leveling Bd.
...Auth. v. Scott, 137 N.J.Super. 110, 348 A.2d 195 (App.Div.1975); failure of air conditioning, Park Hill Terrace Assocs. v. Glennon, 146 N.J.Super. 271, 369 A.2d 938 (App.Div.1977), certif. den. 74 N.J. 250, 377 A.2d 657 (1977); absence of security, see Trentacost v. Brussel, 82 N.J. 214, 22......
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White v. Board of Review, Division of Employment Security, New Jersey Dept. of Labor and Industry
...This is the premise upon which she attacks the finding that she left work voluntarily without good cause attributable to the work. [369 A.2d 938] While superficially attractive, the argument fails in view of the legislative policy inherent in the Page 270 Prior to a statutory amendment in 1......