• Judgment for possession in favor of a New Jersey landlord marks significant victory for multi-family property owners affected by the aftermath of super storm Sandy
• Case to serve as a model at upcoming educational seminar for industry professionals
“While there always seems to be a steady wave of new and emerging landlord/tenant issues, super storm Sandy is currently feeding a surge in claims associated with this catastrophic event.” – Tracey Goldstein, Esquire and member of Feinstein, Raiss, Kelin & Booker, L.L.C., the firm representing the landlord.
Recently, FRKB obtained a significant victory for multi-family property owners in New Jersey affected by the aftermath of Sandy. Angela Gurrera, Esquire, an attorney at FRKB, filed a summary dispossess action based upon non-payment of rent on behalf of an Essex County landlord in this important Trial Court decision.
The action sought the eviction of a tenant who withheld rent as a result of lack of electricity, heat and hot water in the apartment, caused by super storm Sandy. The tenant withheld his rent during a two-week period last November because he alleged the unit was uninhabitable.
Essex County Superior Court Judge Mahlon Fast denied the tenant’s request for a rent abatement, holding that the lack of electricity, heat and hot water was not the result of any latent defects in facilities, nor the result of any fault by the landlord. Rather, it was “a unique situation unquestionably beyond the power of the landlord to have reasonably avoided or corrected.”
“The Court ruled that restoration of power was solely within the control of the power supplier, and therefore resulted in a judgment for possession in favor of the landlord,” said Gurrera.
The firm of Feinstein, Raiss, Kelin & Booker, L.L.C. is located at 100 Executive Drive, Suite 360 in West Orange, New Jersey 07052. They can be reached at (973) 324-5400. For more information please visit http://www.frkblaw.com.