Court Upholds DHCR's 1995 Deregulation Decision

Tenant sued landlord, claiming that her apartment had been improperly vacancy-deregulated while the building was receiving J-51 tax benefits. The court granted landlord's request to dismiss the case. Tenant moved into the apartment in December 2004 and received a deregulated lease from landlord. The building was receiving J-51 tax benefits at the time. However, the DHCR had issued an order in February 1995 determining that the apartment was deregulated due to the high-rent/high-income of a prior tenant. The court found that, although the building was receiving J-51 benefits when the DHCR issued its 1995 decision, that didn't void the DHCR's order. An appeals court had previously ruled, in Gersten v. 56 7th Avenue LLC, that a tenant who didn't appeal the DHCR's deregulation order under similar circumstances couldn't later challenge the order even though the building was under J-51. Although, in Gersten, the same tenant was involved, and in this case tenant moved in long after the DHCR ruled that the apartment was deregulated, the court found no reason to disturb the DHCR's 1995 order, that was now more than 20 years old.

Meyers v. Four Thirty Realty: Index No. 116747/2010 (Sup. Ct. NY; 7/3/18; Bluth, J) [8-pg. doc.]