Does a landlord have the responsibility to pay for hotel expenses if an apartment becomes uninhabitable?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Does a landlord have the responsibility to pay for hotel expenses if an apartment becomes uninhabitable?
Recently my landlord has been doing construction on the unit below from me. Due to this recent construction the building has become uninhabitable due to structural damage. He told us we had to vacate and did not give us suitable options to accomadate us. Is he responsible for putting us in a hotel and covering the cost of just the room ?
Asked on August 9, 2012 under Real Estate Law, New York
Answers:
Mark Siegel / Law Office of Mark A. Siegel
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
You did not state whether the local building dept had issued violations or an order, after inspecting the unit below & the building. If the local building dept finds the building to be unsafe due to structural damage, the applicable local law may authorize them to issue an order to vacate the premises.
If the local building dept determines that the building is unsafe & as a result issues an order to vacate, it is possible that the applicable local law may require the landlord to pay for the relocation of the tenants. You can obtain information by checking with your local building dept.
However, if your landlord is responsible for unnecessarily creating the structural damage, & could otherwise have made the repairs to the unit below without causing structural damage to the building, this may constitute an eviction. Under NY law, if landlord's action is wrongful & has resulted in an actual or constructive eviction of the tenant, the tenant may have a claim against the landlord for breach of the covenant for quiet enjoyment and may ask the court to award them appropriate damages.
Generally, an actual eviction is where the landlord unlawfully removes or expels the tenant from possession of the premises. In a constructive eviction, the landlord's wrongful action substantially interferes with the tenant's beneficial use of the premises & as a result, the tenant then abandons the premises.
If you have a lease agreement, you may also want to consider having it reviewed by an attorney, in order to find out what the respective rights & obligations of the landlord & tenant are in your case, under the terms of the lease.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.