How Do I File an HP Action in NYC Housing Court?

What an HP Action Is

An HP Action (short for Housing Part) is the specific housing court proceeding tenants use to compel landlords to comply with the Housing Maintenance Code and fix dangerous conditions. It's filed in the Clerk's Office at Housing Court in the county where your apartment is located. Brooklyn tenants file at 141 Livingston Street, Room 303.

If you want the fuller picture of what habitability violations look like, what your landlord owes under the Warranty of Habitability, and how rent abatement is calculated, start with my Repairs & Habitability page. This page is for the next step: the court case itself.

What Happens When You File

Here's the actual sequence once you walk into the clerk's office with your documentation:

You fill out three forms. An Order to Show Cause Directing the Correction of Violations, a Verified Petition in Support of the Order to Show Cause, and an Inspection Request form. The clerk provides them. They're in English only, but interpreters are available if needed.

You list every condition in every room. One condition per line. Be thorough. If you leave something off, you can't add it later without starting over.

You pay the $45 fee. Cash, certified check, money order, or bank check. No personal checks. If you can't afford it, ask for the Poor Person's Relief form and the judge will review your waiver request.

You name the landlord correctly. Legal name, mailing address, no P.O. boxes. If your landlord is an LLC, you find the real name on HPD Online or ACRIS. Getting this wrong is the single most common reason pro se HP cases stall at the first hurdle.

The clerk sets two dates. An HPD inspection date, and a return date roughly ten days after the inspection. You serve the papers on your landlord and HPD according to the directions on the Order to Show Cause.

On the return date, you appear before a judge. Your landlord is there (or their attorney). An HPD attorney is there to represent the city. The parties discuss the case. Most HP Actions resolve through a consent order or stipulation of settlement on this first return date, with specific deadlines for repairs and specific consequences for missing them.

If the case doesn't resolve, it's set for trial. The judge hears evidence and decides.

When You Can File Without a Lawyer

The honest answer is: more often than you might think.

You do not need an attorney to start an HP case. The clerks will tell you which forms to fill out. JustFix.nyc will help you prepare and file the papers electronically at no cost. Housing Court Answers staffs free information tables in every borough courthouse, including Kings County. For a single-issue case against a landlord who shows up and agrees to make repairs, a pro se filing often gets the job done.

Hire a lawyer when one or more of these apply:

The landlord is represented. If your landlord has an attorney and you don't, the procedural asymmetry matters more than the underlying merits. Housing court is informal, but it's still court, and landlord-side attorneys know how to exploit pro se mistakes.

The conditions are severe and ongoing. Black mold, no heat in winter, active leaks that have damaged property, pest infestations that have persisted for months. Cases at this severity usually warrant rent abatement claims that pro se tenants often don't know how to pursue or quantify.

The landlord has already ignored one court order. Filing an Order to Show Cause for contempt is procedurally unforgiving. Missed service deadlines, incorrect captions, or failure to reference the prior order can sink the motion. Once you're past the first violation of a court order, representation usually pays for itself in the leverage it creates.

Retaliation is on the table. If your landlord moved to evict you within a year of your HPD complaint, your HP Action filing, or your participation in a tenant organization, Real Property Law 223-b creates a rebuttable presumption of retaliation. Raising that defense effectively in parallel proceedings is where an attorney changes the arithmetic.

You want to pursue harassment claims. An HP Action for harassment is a separate proceeding that addresses the deliberate neglect-as-eviction-strategy pattern some landlords use. It runs parallel to repair claims and opens up different remedies.

Multiple tenants in your building are affected. Coordinated HP Actions across tenants in the same building create different strategic options than single-apartment cases. These benefit from counsel who can structure the filings to work together.

How I Handle HP Actions

Every HP Action I take follows the same basic approach.

Intake and triage first. Not every repair dispute needs an HP Action. Some need a certified letter and a 311 call. Some need a DHCR decrease-in-services complaint. Some need a harassment proceeding. I'll tell you which one fits your situation before we file anything, and I'll be honest about when you don't need me at all.

Documentation strategy before pleading. HP cases are won or lost on the record. I'll tell you exactly what to gather: timestamped photos, written notice to the landlord with proof of delivery, HPD inspection reports, medical documentation if conditions have affected your health, neighbor statements if the problems extend beyond your unit.

Specific factual pleading. NYC housing courts are increasingly requiring specific facts in pleadings rather than vague allegations. Every condition in your petition gets its own line, its own room, its own history, and its own documentation hook.

Negotiated settlement when it serves you. Most HP cases resolve through a consent order or stipulation of settlement at the return date. Both include specific deadlines for repairs and specific consequences for missing them. I negotiate the terms and make sure the consequences have actual teeth, not just language.

Enforcement when landlords don't comply. When landlords ignore court orders, I file Orders to Show Cause to bring the case back, pursue contempt motions, and go after civil penalties. This is where most pro se cases stall. Judges can impose daily penalties per violation and hold landlords in contempt. Those penalties are paid to HPD, not to you, but the pressure moves cases that nothing else moves.

Rent abatement pursuit. If you lived with severe conditions for months, you may be entitled to a retroactive rent reduction for that period. I'll tell you whether your situation supports an abatement claim and what percentage range is realistic based on the severity and duration of the violations.

Kings County HP Cases

Most of my housing court practice is in Kings County. HP Actions filed in Brooklyn go through Room 303 at 141 Livingston Street. The procedures are identical across the five boroughs, but the pace of the docket, the local rules, and the attorneys on the landlord side are specific to this courthouse. I'm there regularly.

If your building is in another borough and you still want representation, I handle HP Actions citywide. The logistics are slightly different, but the work is the same.

HP Actions Alongside Other Claims

HP Actions rarely exist in isolation. Common pairings:

With an eviction defense. If your landlord is suing you for nonpayment and your apartment has serious problems, the conditions become your defense. An HP Action filed in parallel establishes the habitability violations on the record and strengthens your position in the nonpayment case. See my Eviction Defense page.

With an illegal lockout claim. Some lockouts start with neglect: the landlord lets conditions decay hoping the tenant will leave voluntarily, then changes the locks when they do. An HP Action after restoration of possession documents the underlying pattern. See my Illegal Lockouts page.

With a rent overcharge claim. Rent-stabilized tenants experiencing habitability problems can pair an HP Action with a DHCR decrease-in-services complaint for an immediate rent reduction while the court case proceeds. See my Rent Overcharge page.

With a harassment proceeding. If the neglect appears strategic, that changes the available remedies significantly. Deliberate neglect-as-eviction-strategy is a distinct legal claim, not just bad landlord behavior.

If You've Already Filed and Need Help

I also take over HP cases that started pro se and need representation after the fact. Common reasons: the landlord showed up with counsel and the tenant is getting outmaneuvered, the first court order was ignored and contempt enforcement is on the table, or the conditions have gotten worse since filing. There's no procedural penalty for bringing an attorney in after filing. The case continues with the same index number.