39 A.D.2d 334 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1972
This is an appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Albany County, which granted a preliminary injunction ordering appellant to perform repairs on premises he leases to the respondents.
Respondents are tenants pursuant to an oral month-to-month tenancy of a one-family residence on Alexander Street in the City of Albany, New York, owned by the appellant. In the instant action respondents seek to compel appellant to rectify certain conditions on the rented premises which allegedly constitute violations of the Housing Code of the City of Albany and the Sanitary Code of the County of Albany. Special Term, holding that title 10 of article 13 of the Public Health Law (§ 1370 et seq.) places the burden of making such repairs as obviate the danger of lead poisoning on landlords and that the facts herein create a nuisance situation which justifies the granting of a mandatory preliminary injunction, ordered appellant ‘ ‘ to make repairs necessary to de-lead the premises ” and to do so within 10 days of the time respondents temporarily vacate the premises.
While an injunction is a discretionary form of relief (12 Carmody-Wait 2d, New York Practice, § 78:2), a preliminary injunction may not be given unless the party seeking it has stated a prima facie cause of action which would justify a permanent injunction (12 Carmody-Wait 2d, New York Practice, § 78:15; Rodgers v. Rodgers, 30 A D 2d 548, 549). Accordingly, the dispositive question is whether the respondents in the instant case have any basis in law to compel the appellant to make the ordered repairs to the leased premises despite the lack of any specific provision in the rental agreement to this effect. In our opinion this question must be answered in the negative on the facts presented here. The
Accordingly, respondents’ complaint does not set forth a cause of action that would justify issuance of an injunction, and therefore a preliminary injunction was improperly granted.
The order should be reversed, on the law and the facts, and the motion denied.
Herlihy, P. J., Greenblott, Simons and Kane, JJ., concur.
Order reversed, on the law and the facts, and the motion denied, without costs.