Converted Commercial Building Exempt from Rent Stabilization

Bedford-Stuyvesant developer converted commercial building into residential apartments. 885 Park Avenue Brooklyn LLC owned a commercial building located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn that had been used solely for commercial purposes. Beginning in 1999, 885 Park converted the building into 23 new residential units. The conversion was completed in 2003. In 2011, Daniel Goddard signed a one-year market-rate lease with 885 Park.


Court Holds That Agency Rent Overcharge Calculation Violated Law

Landlord not responsible for more than four years of overcharged rent. On August 16, 2018, the Appellate Division for the First Department held that the landlord for 27 West 96th Street in Manhattan did not engage in a fraudulent scheme to evade the Rent Stabilization Law and therefore the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) had miscalculated the amount of overcharged rent that was due back to tenants.


City Mandatory Rental Terms Violated State Law

Rental Assistance program sought to establish lease renewal and limit rent increases based on rent stabilization regulations. In 2015, prospective tenants Regina Alston and Sandra Vaughn-Cooke inquired about apartment vacancies at Spring Creek Towers. Starrett City, Inc. owns Spring Creek Towers, located in the East New York neighborhood in Brooklyn. Spring Creek Towers is an apartment complex with 5,881 apartments. Alston and Vaughn-Cooke both had Living in Communities (LINC) rental vouchers. Starrett City, Inc. … <Read More>


Court of Appeals Rules Tenant’s West Village Apartment Is No Longer Rent-Stabilized

Post-vacancy increases included in calculation for rent stabilization deregulation. On April 26, 2018, the New York Court of Appeals held that vacancy increases are included in determining if the rent amount triggers deregulation of a rent-stabilized apartment. Richard Altman sued 285 West Fourth LLC, its landlord, asking the court to declare that his apartment is subject to rent stabilization and requiring the landlord to offer Altman a rent-stabilized lease. Rent stabilization provides tenants with rates … <Read More>


Central Park West tenants win rent case

Owner claimed that federal law pre-empted Central Park West building from rent stabilization. In 1969, Jacob Haberman purchased nine separate tenement buildings at 431–439 Central Park West in Manhattan. Haberman took out a loan from the Federal Housing Administration in order to rehabilitate and combine the tenements into a single apartment building containing 120 units. In 1980, Haberman received a subsidy grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and contracted with HUD … <Read More>


HRA Clients Get Rent Protection

Landlord attempted to evict three HRA clients residing in single-room-occupancy facility. In 2013 the owners of a single-room-occupancy facility at 25 West 24th Street, Manhattan, entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Human Resources Administration to set aside 30 units for clients referred by the agency. The referrals would register their attendance automatically by swiping their HRA benefits card at the facility. The landlord submitted monthly bills to HRA, and could also collect … <Read More>