Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Civil Court, New York County, entered May 14, 2003 after a nonjury trial (Jose A. Padilla, Jr., J.) which awarded damages to plaintiff in the principal sum of $9,370, representing $6,600 in rent arrears and $2,770 in attorney's fees.

PER CURIAM:

Judgment entered May 14, 2003 (Jose A. Padilla, Jr., J.) modified to reduce plaintiff's rent recovery to the principal sum of $4,500, to vacate the award for attorney's fees, and to remand the matter for a hearing to determine the amount of reasonable attorney's fees due plaintiff; as modified, judgment affirmed, without costs.

Civil Court properly resolved the warranty of habitability issues litigated below in favor of the plaintiff-landlord. The vague and unparticularized testimony offered by defendant-tenant as to the nature of the apartment conditions and the circumstances and chronology of the verbal notice of those conditions allegedly given to unspecified building representatives was insufficient to meet the tenant's burden on the issue, or so the trial court reasonably could find. With respect to the rent award, we modify only to the extent of crediting defendant with the [*2]amount of his security deposit, there being no claim or showing by plaintiff that it sustained any ancillary damages — distinct from the rent arrears otherwise covered by the judgment — as a result of the defendant's premature abandonment of the leased premises.

While we sustain the trial court's (unchallenged) determination that plaintiff achieved "prevailing party" status, the amount of the reasonable attorney's fees owed to plaintiff cannot be ascertained on papers alone and requires a hearing (see Kumble v Windsor Plaza Co., 128 AD2d 425 [1987]).

This constitutes the decision and order of the court.
Decision Date: November 24, 2004