Apartment Should Be Rent Stabilized After Temporary Exemption

Landlord sued to evict month-to-month tenant, claiming that tenant was unregulated. Tenant asked the court to dismiss the case, claiming that he was rent stabilized. The court ruled for tenant. Landlord appealed and lost. Former Rent Stabilization Code Section 2526.1(a)(3)(iii), relied on by landlord, didn’t support a finding that the apartment was deregulated. The language of that code section “necessarily presumes” that the first tenant after a vacancy or temporary exemption is offered a rent-stabilized lease. Here, the vacancy lease landlord gave tenant following a temporary exemption explicitly stated that the apartment wasn’t subject to rent regulation. The case was sent back to the trial court to determine if there had been a rent overcharge.

M & E Christopher LLC v. Godfrey: 2016 NY Slip Op 50229(U), 2016 WL 744436 (App. T. 1 Dept.; 2/25/16; Shulman, JP, Hunter Jr., Ling-Cohan, JJ)