Parker v. Howard Ave. Realty, LLC

• Decision Date: 28 April 2017
• Citation: 53 N.Y.S.3d 879,56 Misc.3d 15
• Parties: Rose Mary PARKER, Respondent, v. HOWARD AVENUE REALTY, LLC, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Term

56 Misc.3d 15
53 N.Y.S.3d 879

Rose Mary PARKER, Respondent,
v.
HOWARD AVENUE REALTY, LLC, Appellant.

Supreme Court, Appellate Term, Second Dept., 2, 11 & 13 Judicial Dist.

April 28, 2017.

53 N.Y.S.3d 879

Sidrane & Schwartz–Sidrane, LLP (Steve D. Sidrane, Esq.), for appellant.

53 N.Y.S.3d 880

Rose Mary Parker, respondent pro se (no brief filed).

PRESENT: MICHAEL L. PESCE, P.J., MICHELLE WESTON, THOMAS P. ALIOTTA, JJ.

Appeal from a resettled final judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Cheryl J. Gonzales, J.), entered December 15, 2014. The resettled final judgment, after a nonjury trial, awarded possession to petitioner tenant and adjudged that respondent landlord is not entitled to a first rent or to an individual apartment improvement increase, in an unlawful entry and detainer summary proceeding brought pursuant to RPAPL 713(10).

ORDERED that the resettled final judgment is modified by striking the provisions adjudging that respondent landlord is not entitled to a first rent or to an individual apartment improvement increase; as so modified, the resettled final judgment is affirmed, without costs.

Tenant commenced this RPAPL 713(10) proceeding on February 24, 2011 seeking to be restored to possession of a rent-stabilized apartment. Tenant had previously temporarily relocated to an apartment in an adjacent building so that her building's former owner could complete necessary repairs to her apartment. The terms of her agreement were memorialized in a November 24, 2008 consent agreement between tenant and the former owner's agent, so-ordered by the Civil Court, stating that tenant would be permitted to return to the apartment after the repairs were completed, which was to be within 60 days. Tenant retained the keys and left personal items in the apartment. The repairs were not completed within the agreed-upon 60 days, and, after tenant had been repeatedly assured by the former owner's agent that tenant would be able to return to her apartment, the building fell into foreclosure and, on November 18, 2010, was sold to respondent landlord, which subsequently changed the locks to tenant's apartment. Landlord moved...