The Supreme Court in Richmond County through out a condo unit owner’s defenses to a nonpayment case seeking a money judgment for common charge arrears. The Court found that the affirmative defenses by the investor condo owner were boilerplate and couldn’t withstand summary judgment.
The owner stopped paying common charges because of a water leak within his units. The Court held that under the condo’s governing documents, there is no right of set off and the unit owner couldn’t withhold paying his common charges because of a water leak.
The Court distinguished another case called Granda v. Condominium I v. Morris (222 A.D.2d 520 (2nd Dep’t 1996) where the parties agreed to a withholding of common charges and placement in an escrow. in that condo, there was an enforceable agreement to withhold common charges, in this case, there was none.
As typical for condos, the governing documents provided for an award of legal fees and costs for collection of common charges. The Court granted the condo summary judgment and set an award of attorneys’ fees and costs for an inquest where the Court would decide how much to award the condo.
Read the decision here.
