Former Hospital Employee-Occupants Didn't Become Rent Stabilized After Employment Ended

Apartment licensee Joseph complained to the DHCR of rent overcharge. The DRA terminated the proceeding because the licensee's initial occupancy was contingent upon her employment with Maimonides Medical Center (MMC). Since there was no landlord/tenant relationship, the licensee wasn't rent stabilized and the apartment wasn't subject to DHCR jurisdiction.

The licensee appealed and lost. She claimed that: (1) the charitable exemption from rent stabilization didn't apply to MMC because MMC had sold the building; (2) MMC and the new owner signed a Master Lease Agreement; and (3) the licensee now paid rent to the new owner, Maimo I Holdings, LLC. MMC pointed out that the Civil Court already had decided the issue in its favor. There, the court found that: (1) the licensee's occupancy was pursuant to an Occupancy Agreement related to her employment at MMC; (2) the Occupancy Agreement provided for termination of occupancy upon termination of employment for whatever reason; (3) the licensee retired from MMC in 2015; (4) she wasn't entitled to a renewal lease; and (5) MMC was entitled to take possession of the apartment. Also, in response to a lease violation complaint by the same licensee, the DHCR already had ruled that the licensee and other similar building occupants, even those who remained in occupancy beyond their employment, weren't rent-stabilized tenants. 

In a separate rent overcharge proceeding filed by another licensee, Johnson, the DHCR relied on the court ruling in Joseph's case, dismissed the licensee's overcharge complaint, and denied her PAR. Johnson had signed a similar Occupancy Agreement when employed by MMC, and her continued occupancy in the apartment beyond her employment with MMC didn't confer rent-stabilized status on her tenancy.

Joseph: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. LV210029RT (2/15/24); Johnson: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. LV210027RT (2/20/24)[2-pg. document]