Bats in the attic cost Campbell Hall family a home

Bats in the attic qualify as a nuisance, an Orange County judge has ruled in a landlord-tenant dispute, and in this case it is the landlord and fellow residents who have been wronged.

Jason Hartman, whose Coldentown LLC owns a two-unit apartment building on Neelytown Road in the hamlet of Campbell Hall, accused Katrina Maldonado of creating a nuisance and withholding rent for nearly a year.

Acting judge Richard Clarino of Justice Court of Hamptonburgh concurred in an Oct. 25 ruling.

Maldonado lives in the second floor apartment with her two children. The bats live in the attic above her apartment.

Hartman also testified that water leaking from the roof dampened ceilings, caused mold and seeped into the first-floor apartment and near an electrical box in the basement.

The only way into the attic to remove the bats and fix the leak is through Maldonado’s apartment, but she had changed the locks on her apartment door, according to the ruling, and denied access to her apartment.

“The bat, water and mold problems endanger not only the health and safety of (Maldonado) and her children,” but also the first floor tenant,” Clarino ruled, “and if untreated or uncorrected, will likely threaten the structural integrity of the building.

Clarino also found that Maldonado has discarded trash, glass, food and cigarette butts outside the house, infringing on the first floor tenant’s” enjoyment of the premises.”

Maldonado did not deny nonpayment of rent, according to the ruling, but said the apartment has problems and she has a financial hardship.

“Financial hardship is not a defense,” Clarino ruled, “because she has engaged in unreasonable behavior that substantially infringes on the use and enjoyment of other tenants and caused a substantial safety hazard to others.”

He ordered the tenant to pay $16,850 in rent plus attorney fees, and said the landlord may evict her after Nov. 30.