Building Covered After Federal Low-Interest Mortgage Satisfied

Landlord applied to the DHCR for building-wide rent restructuring. The DHCR ruled against landlord. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that once the federal low-interest mortgage on the property and the program under which it was issued ended in 1987, the building reverted to rent control. Landlord further claimed that when those rent-controlled tenants moved out, it was entitled to set initial rent-stabilized rents subject to fair market rent appeal. But the DHCR reasonably ruled that, when the mortgage ended, the building became rent-stabilized, starting at the rent amounts last paid by tenants while under the federal program. If landlord wanted to challenge those rents, it was required to do so within 60 days after those rents were set in 1987.

221 W. 16th Realty LLC v. DHCR: NYLJ, 11/20/00, p. 23, col. 4 (App. Div.1 Dept.; Sullivan, PJ, Rosenberger, Tom, Wallach, Andrias, JJ)