Brooklyn Housing Court backlogs ignite potential legal showdown
In the last meeting of the Kings County Housing Court Bar Association before summer break, grievances were aired over significant delays in housing court cases. Many members pointed fingers at the landlord-tenant mediation pilot program running in Brooklyn, citing it as a major contributor to the backlog of cases and a potential violation of statutory return dates.
Michael Rosenthal, president of the association, expressed frustration over return dates being set three months after the day of filing, explicitly violating the statute, as well as additional delays such as those in obtaining warrants and adjournments. Rosenthal hinted that the association might consider suing the court system over these issues.
“The initial return date for non-payments and holdovers is about three months after the day of filing, and that violates the statute,” Rosenthal said. “There are a lot of other delays that we are unhappy about like, how long it takes to get a warrant, or how long to get an adjournment, but getting a return date longer than 10 days out explicitly violates the statute. It may be something that we have to sue the court about.”
While the housing court is set to see an influx of about 20 new court attorneys in the coming weeks, Rosenthal expressed concern that the current hiring limitations across the court system, especially in regard to court officers and court clerks, still present a significant hurdle.