1972
(a) A part of the court shall be devoted to actions and proceedings involving the enforcement of state and local laws for the establishment and maintenance of housing standards, including, but not limited to, the multiple dwelling law and the housing maintenance code, building code and health code of the administrative code of the city of New York, as follows:

delivery of possession
implied warranty of habitability
delivery of possession
duty to allow quiet enjoyment

Before 1971, residential tenants would sign leases which
relegated most of the responsibility for repairs and maintenance
to the tenants themselves. In leasing, landlords would deliver
only the physical the space of the apartment, avoiding
obligations relating to the apartment's condition. A tenant might
be required to accept an apartment "as is" and no relief was
extended unless the tenant could prove fraud or
misrepresentation. Whether the tenant had a written lease or oral
agreement, the landlord's failure to maintain the apartment or
building in a habitable state (or to furnish services specified
in a lease) in no way diminished the landlord's right to collect
the rent, even if the landlord was in violation of local and
state laws or housing codes

In 1975, the New York State Legislature enacted Section 235-b of
the Real Property Law (RPL), known as the "Warranty of
Habitability" for the protection of residential tenants.

The Warranty is now part of every
residential lease in the state, written or oral.

The Warranty of Habitability makes the landlord responsible for
keeping habitable the public areas of residential buildings
(entrance-ways, lobbies, hallways, etc.) as well as the private
areas (individual apartments). The landlord is also responsible for maintaining required or agreed-upon services

THIS CANNOT BE WAIVED

Neither the landlord nor the tenant can agree to waive or
modify the Warranty.

Expert testimony is not required (as it is in other kinds of
damage claims) to determine the amount of rent abatement
when there is a breach (violation) of the Warranty.
When services are not provided, the tenant has the implied right
to withhold all or a portion of the rent. The landlord may then
sue the tenant in Housing Court for non-payment of rent, but a
breach of the Warranty may be used by the tenant as a defense and
a counterclaim. Alternatively, the tenant may sue the landlord to
enforce the Warranty and for damages

Neither the landlord nor the tenant can agree to waive or
modify the Warranty.

Expert testimony is not required (as it is in other kinds of
damage claims) to determine the amount of rent abatement
when there is a breach (violation) of the Warranty.
When services are not provided, the tenant has the implied right
to withhold all or a portion of the rent. The landlord may then
sue the tenant in Housing Court for non-payment of rent, but a
breach of the Warranty may be used by the tenant as a defense and
a counterclaim. Alternatively, the tenant may sue the landlord to
enforce the Warranty and for damages

Social Services Law Section 143-b allows public welfare officials to withhold rent to landlords of public assistance recipients where there are outstanding violations of law which are dangerous, hazardous or detrimental to life or health. It further states that, if the violations are reported to the appropriate welfare department, it shall be “a valid defense in any action or summary proceeding against a welfare recipient for non-payment of rent to show existing violations in the building wherein such welfare recipient resides which relate to conditions which are dangerous, hazardous or detrimental to life or health as the basis of non-payment.” Further, the landlord “shall not be entitled to an order or judgment awarding possession or a money judgment. 1) No private right to assert this defense if the agency does not withhold rent.

Where tenant is forced to vacate the premises since they have become totally uninhabitable due to a lack of services or a failure of landlord to make repairs, tenant is totally excused from the obligation to pay rent. Vacating the premises is a necessary prerequisite to pleading this defense or asserting this claim

(1) good faith complaint to a governmental agency of a health or safety violation; (2) action taken to enforce rights under a lease; or (3) participation in a tenant’s organization.

There is a rebuttable presumption of retaliation if an eviction is brought within six months of any of the first two above actions unless the condition was caused by the tenant. 3. Does not apply to: (i) a non-payment proceeding; (ii) proceeding based upon a violation of a lease term; (iii) if the tenant caused the problem; or (iv) to owner occupied two or three family residences.

damages vary from case to case

Aside
from the condition itself, judges assess the length and severity
of the breach, as well as the steps taken by the landlord (if
any) to correct.

lack of janitorial services for 17 days entitled the tenant
to a rent abatement of 10 percent for that same period.

o failure to provide hot water necessary for the health of the
tenant brought a $50 award for each time there was no hot
water.

o a defective and unsafe stove for five and a half months
entitled the tenant to a $10 abatement, but in the same
apartment where the air conditioner was not working there
was a $100 abatement of rent.

o for no heat for an accumulated total of 43 days, no hot
water for 53 days, no elevator for 38 days and other
conditions, the abatement equaled 50 percent of the rent for
three months and 25 percent for the remainder of the time
the breach continued. There was also a punitive assessment
of $25,000.

o a non-working elevator, a poorly maintained intercom, and
unreliable hot water was considered a minor breach of the
Warranty and the tenant was awarded a 10 percent abatement.
(The judge noted that this award might have been more, but
for the tenant's failure to document the violations.)

o broken window glass, leaky faucets, broken floors,
inoperable vents, water leaks in the closets, living room,
and kitchen, leaking radiator and rodent and roach
infestation resulted in an abatement of 35 percent

Reinhard v. Connaught Tower Corp.,8 where the Supreme Court, New York County, found that more than one incident is necessary to establish breach of the warranty.

courts strive to strike a balance between recognizing that noise is inevitable in a large, crowded city such as New York and providing recourse for legitimate noise complaints. Noise constitutes a breach of the warranty of habitability only if it is unreasonable, excessive and continuous; it must be more than ordinary household noise.13

The presence of mold in an apartment can breach the warranty of habitability if the landlord has actual or constructive notice of a mold condition or has created it.18 In Litwack v. Plaza Realty,19 the First Department held that a tenant's complaints of wetness and wall discoloration, coupled with her expert's opinion as to improper repair of the wall, created a material issue of fact as to whether mold growth was foreseeable. Thus, "notice" to a landlord of a condition from which it was foreseeable that a mold condition could develop was sufficient.

In Ludlow Properties v. Young,26 the Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County, found that the presence of bedbugs, notwithstanding the landlord's extermination efforts, created an intolerable condition and awarded the rental tenant a 45 percent rent abatement for a period of seven months. The extent of a rent abatement depends, in part, on whether a landlord takes prompt action after being notified of the presence of bedbugs.

allows the Department of Social Services to withold payment of rent to a landlord where dangerous conditions exist in a recipient's apartment.

should this allow a tenant to withhold their portion of the rent?

Notre Dame Leasing v. Rosario: court of appeals said no.
[denise may v. queens legal services and queens legal aid]

One-third or more of the tenants occupying a dwelling located in the city of New York or the commissioner of the department of the city of New York charged with enforcement of the housing maintenance code of such city, or in the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland and Westchester may maintain a special proceeding as provided in this article, upon the ground that there exists in such dwellings or in any part thereof a lack of heat or of running water or of light or of electricity or of adequate sewage disposal facilities, or any other condition dangerous to life, health or safety, which has existed for five days, or an infestation by rodents, or any combination of such conditions; or course of conduct by the owner or the owner's agents of harassment, illegal eviction, continued deprivation of services or other acts dangerous to life, health or safety, or the issuance of an order to the owner of such dwelling by the commissioner of such department of the city of New York pursuant to the alternative enforcement program under section 27-2153 of the administrative code of the city of New York, provided that such dwelling has not been discharged from the program pursuant to such section and there has not been a determination that the owner has substantially complied with such order.

N.Y. Real Prop. Acts. Law § 770 (McKinney)

ethical considerations
decision making
administration- escrow accounts, retainers, settlements