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SENIOR SACRIFICES SECURITY (DEPOSIT)

Poor Phyllis Plotkin lost her security deposit when she failed to give her landlord adequate notice of her election to relocate to senior housing. According to New York State law, (Real Property Law section 227-a), a tenant who is 62 years of age or older and is seeking to relocate to an adult care facility, a health care facility, senior citizen or subsidized low-income housing, or, a family member's residence, may prematurely terminate a lease, without additional liability to the landlord, if a 30-day notice is given to the owner.
In Plotkin v. Fairfield at Setauket, LLC, Ms. Plotkin advised her landlord on June 11, 2003, that she would be relocating as of June 30, 2003. Although the landlord was only given 19 days' notice, a Suffolk County District Court Judge awarded Ms. Plotkin a refund of her security deposit.
An appeal to the Appellate Term, 9th and 10th Judicial Districts, followed. Since Ms. Plotkin failed to conform with the technical requirements of the law, the appellate court concluded that the senior was liable for another month's rent and reversed the District Court's judgment. As the Appellate Term noted in its decision:

Plaintiff, who was moving to senior citizen housing, provided notice to landlord of intent to surrender her lease, as required by Real Property Law section 227-a(2), on or about June 11, 2003 and moved out of her apartment on or about June 30, 2003. Since, under the statute, such notice is effective no earlier than 30 days after the due date of the next rental payment subsequent to the date of delivery of the notice, tenant's notice of slightly more than two weeks was inadequate as a matter of law...Because tenant admittedly did not pay the July 2003 rent, and the terms of the lease permitted use of the security deposit in lieu of rent in such circumstances, landlord was entitled to retain the deposit for that purpose....
We found it interesting that a party was willing to incur the time and expense of prosecuting an appeal, when the legal fees and costs probably exceeded the amount of the funds held as security. (After all, how much could the senior's monthly rent have been?)
Is there no rest for the weary?
For a copy of the Appellate Term's decision in Plotkin v. Fairfield at Setauket, LLC, please click on the following link:
http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2006/2006_51052.htm

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