99 Vandam Street

Loft Law prevents using bankruptcy as a tool to circumvent housing law. In 2002, Bridge Associates of Soho, Inc. (“Bridge Associates”) acquired 99 Vandam Street in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan. 99 Vandam is a seven-story residential loft building that has been governed by Article 7-C of the New York Multiple Dwelling Law (“Loft Law”) since approximately 1991. Loft Law governs the conversion of manufacturing and commercial use buildings to residential use buildings. The law generally requires landlords to bring buildings into conformity with the required laws and codes for residential occupancy. Since acquiring the once commercial building, Bridge Associates never received a certificate of occupancy for residential use, nor have they commenced the process to bring the property into compliance with the Loft Law.

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Park West Village superblock on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. (808 Columbus Ave, center). Image Credit: Google Maps.

Appellate Division finds that Buildings improperly issued construction permit for nursing home after misinterpreting the zoning resolution. Park West Village is a complex located on a superblock bounded by West 100^th Street to the north, West 97^th Street to the south, Columbus Avenue to the east, and Amsterdam Avenue to the west on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The complex was built in the 1950s and 1960s as part of a federally subsidized middle-income urban renewal project, and includes residential buildings, a parking lot, a school, a church, a public library, a health center, and commercial buildings. Three original 16-story residential buildings remain on the eastern portion of the superblock at 784, 788, and 792 Columbus Avenue. The Park West Village buildings all exist on the same zoning lot. (more…)

360 West 43rd Street in Manhattan. Image credit: Google Maps.

The Appellate Division affirmed fines for illegal conversion of residential units as hotel rooms. 360 West 43^rd Street is a 28-story, 264 rent-stabilized unit building in Midtown, Manhattan. On June 5, 2015, the owner sent three tenants a letter advising them that their leases would be terminated and they would be evicted if they continued illegally renting out the apartments for hotel use. (more…)

Metropolitan Fine Arts & Antiques at 10 West 57th Street. Image credit: Google Maps.

The owners of a midtown antique shop were convicted of illegally selling $1.5 million worth of elephant ivory, which allowed their landlords to evict them pursuant to New York Property Law. In 2015, an undercover officer entered the Metropolitan Fine Arts & Antiques shop and bought ivory for $2,000. The sale of ivory without a permit became illegal in 2014 in an effort to protect elephant population. The authorities found and seized 126 ivory articles, including tusks valued between $150,000 to $200,000 after a search warrant was issued. (more…)

27 West 96th Street in Manhattan. Image Credit: Google Maps.

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 96^th 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. (more…)