Town Justice John Fried
Landlord sued to recover possession of the subject apartment from Section 8 tenant in this summary action. Tenant moved for dismissal arguing there were questions of whether landlord complied with notice of termination provisions of 24 CFR 982.310. A hearing was ordered and the court found tenant was personally served by a process server with a 30-day notice of termination. It also found landlord’s explanation, that it sought to renovate the premises and lease it at a higher rent, constituted “other good cause” to terminate a Section 8 lease under §982.310(d)(1)(iv), which was properly explained in the notice of termination. As such, the court ruled landlord substantially complied with §982.310, denying tenant dismissal on such grounds. Further, it found landlord’s grounds to terminate the Section 8 lease were not a “ruse or wily subterfuge.” Tenant also alleged landlord was precluded from evicting her based on her source of income as it would constitute discrimination against source of income that was prohibited by the Westchester County Fair Housing Law. The court found landlord’s residential building was exempted from the Fair Housing Law, which cannot and did not empower this Justice Court to enforce it denying dismissal.
