Court Looks Back More Than Four Years to Examine Apartment Deregulation

Landlord sued to evict unregulated tenant. Tenant claimed that he was rent stabilized and had been overcharged. Landlord argued that the apartment had been exempt from rent stabilization based on high-rent vacancy since 2003, so the court couldn't look back more than four years to examine tenant’s claims. Landlord asked the court to decide the case in its favor without a trial.

The court ruled against landlord, who appealed and lost. The court could consider events beyond the four-year statute of limitations for rent overcharge if it was for the purpose of determining whether the apartment was rent stabilized. There were questions of fact that required trial, including whether landlord’s Individual Apartment Improvement costs during the year before the 2003 deregulation of the apartment justified the monthly rent increase of over $873.

CS 393 LLC v. Eisenberg: 2015 NY Slip Op 50972(U), Index No. 571042/14 (App. T. 1 Dept.; 6/30/15; Lowe III, PJ, Shulman, Hunter Jr. JJ)