Navla testified that he was the tenant of Apartment 2R, having moved in during July
or August 2005. Asked about the number and placement of apartments in the Building, Navla
testified that the building had two apartments on each of its four floors, including the basement
level. The basement, he said, had been occupied until a fire occurred at the Building in January
2009. After describing broken appliances and a lack of repairs made in his own apartment, Navla
testified that he, his stepson and his wife had filmed the interior of the Building and its various
apartments using a digital camera, on January 9, 2009, five days after the fire took place; Navla
asserted that all the apartments in the Building were open at the time. Navla acknowledged that
he was also a party to a holdover proceeding and not a disinterested witness, but also stated that
he had seen the basement apartments prior to January 2009, as he had been in the basement
whenever there were electrical problems in his apartment, which gave him the [*4]opportunity to see through the open doors of the apartments.
Vaquero testified that she had lived in 2R at the Building for four years, and that the
first, second and third floors of the Building each had two apartments during the entire time she
had lived in the Building. She further testified that there were conditions in need of repair in her
apartment in December 2008, but that no repairs had been made. January 9, 2009, Vaquero
testified, was the only day on which she saw the apartments in the basement of the Building,
while she was taking part in the videotaping of the interior of the Building. She described the
basement as containing water, garbage and rats. She said that she attempted contacting the