Eligibility Date for SCRIE Benefits

Facts: The NYC Department for the Aging applied a narrow definition of the eligibility date for senior citizens and denied special retroactive benefits to tenants who had filed lawsuit against the city. Under the SCRIE program, landlords can charge eligible tenants only ''one third of the aggregate disposable'' household income, or the rent in effect immediately preceding the ''eligibility date,'' whichever is greater. Qualifying tenants receive an exemption order from the Department for the Aging, which becomes effective the first day of the first month after receipt of tenant's application. When an exemption is granted, landlord receives a property tax credit to offset the loss of rental income. The city maintained that the ''eligibility date'' is the date before the effective date of the lease for the tenant's apartment at the time tenant applied for SCRIE benefits. Tenants claimed that the eligibility date should mean the earliest date that an applicant may be shown to have met the qualifying criteria of age, income, and rent. This would result in a retroactive rent reduction. The court disagreed with the agency's interpretation and ruled for tenants. The city appealed and won. The court said that the city's interpretation of the SCRIE rules was rational. Tenants appealed to New York's highest court. Court: Tenants lose. The city's interpretation of the regulation is rational and not arbitrary. Tenant's definition would result in retroactive rent cuts and recalculation of the rent based on leases from a time before tenants applied for the exemption.

Nunez v. Giuliani: NYLJ, p. 26, col. 5 (3/27/98) (Ct. App.; Kaye, CJ, Titone, Bellacosa, Smith, Levine, Ciparick, Wesley, JJ)