Apartment Was Lawfully Deregulated Before Rent Act of 2015 and HSTPA

Landlord sued to evict tenant, claiming that tenant's apartment was exempt from rent stabilization due to high-rent vacancy. Tenant claimed that he was rent stabilized. The court ruled against tenant, who appealed and lost. Tenant then appealed to a higher court, that again ruled against tenant.

Proof submitted indicated that the apartment was deregulated in 2011, when the prior rent-stabilized tenant moved out and the legal rent plus statutory increases brought the legal rent above the $2,500 deregulation threshold then in effect. Tenant claimed that the apartment was later reregulated by the Rent Act of 2015. But this was incorrect. That amendment to the Rent Stabilization Law called prospectively for deregulation of apartments that became vacant with a legal rent that was $2,500 or more before vacancy increases were applied. The court also rejected tenant's claim that the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA) reregulated the apartment. HSTPA repealed vacancy deregulation prospectively only, and provided that apartments lawfully deregulated before HSTPA's June 14, 2019, effective date remained deregulated. 

Matter of B.G.R. Realty LLC v. Stein: Index No. 570234/19, L&T 38035/18, App. No. 13731, Case No. 2020-02630, 2021 NY Slip Op 03367 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 5/27/21; Gische, JP, Mazzarelli, Oing, Gonzalez, JJ)