Court To Slum-Financing Lender: Cough Up The Repair Cash; Bank Learns It 'Can't Just Wash Its Hands & Walk Away'

In Brooklyn, New York, the New York Daily News reports:

• City Council Speaker Christine Quinn on Tuesday was touting a court decision to hold a bank responsible for repairs to a dilapidated Brooklyn tenement. “I think this is really a precedent-setting decision,” the mayoral hopeful said. “The buck finally stops somewhere for tenents in the city of New York.”



• Six elderly and disabled tenants at 294 5th Avenue in Park Slope filed a motion in May 2011 after two years of living with deteriorating conditions since the building’s owner defaulted on a $1.85 million mortgage. The tenants were living with on-and-off heat and hot water, no trash collection, an unsecured front door and a roof in danger of collapse.



• The building has 109 open violations, including seven “immediately hazardous” violations, according to the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development. The decision by Judge Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix on Dec. 20 orders the National Bank of New York City to pay a receiver who is responsible for overseeing repairs when the rent doesn’t cover the fixes.



• Shira Galinsky, a senior Staff attorney at South Brooklyn Legal Services, which handled the case, said the case will lead to banks being “held responsible for bad lending.”



• Quinn said the decision can be cited by tenants in future cases to force banks to pay for repairs when a foreclosure had been initiated and a receiver is in place to oversee repairs. "It says that the mortgage holders are not without responsibility,” Quinn said, “that they can’t just wash their hands and walk away.”

Source: Christine Quinn touts case which could lead to banks being 'held responsible for bad lending' (Court holds bank responsible for repairs to Brooklyn tenement).

See also, Elderly and Disabled Tenants Win Suit Compelling Bank to Pay for Repairs.