TENANT NEVER LEFT HIS ILLEGAL BASEMENT APARTMENT
P.G. filed a small claims case against the Corcoran Group in Kings County Civil Court seeking the refund of a $5,400 brokerage commission because he discovered that the basement apartment that he had rented was “illegal.”
After the Civil Court dismissed his case, P.G. appealed. And on its review, the Appellate Term, Second Department, noted that P.G. never left the apartment, and continued to occupy the premises for the balance of his lease term. (Corcoran’s representative testified that it was the company’s belief that the “garden apartment” was legal.)
Finding that he failed to establish any “damages” by the unit’s rental, the AT2 affirmed the outcome and concluded that “substantial justice” had been achieved, in accordance with “the rules and principles of substantive law.”
That clearly was no garden variety case ….
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