Landlord Can Evict Tenant Who Conducted Short-Term Rentals

(Decision submitted by Paul N. Gruber of the Manhattan law firm of Borah, Goldstein, Altschuler, Nahins & Goidel, P.C., attorneys for the landlord.)

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for conducting short-term rentals of the apartment. At trial, landlord showed that tenant listed the apartment on Airbnb for rates of at least $200 per night, and had rented the apartment more than 12 times totalling 79 nights in 10 months, with up to five guests per rental. Tenant collected as much as $366 per night, while her rent equaled $90 per night. The court ruled for landlord, finding that tenant's substantial profiteering wasn't curable.

Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant claimed that landlord had rented the apartment to her as an unregulated unit, even though the apartment was rent stabilized, and tenant now was suing landlord in another court for rent overcharge. But this didn't matter. Commercialization of tenant's apartment was an incurable violation of the Rent Stabilization Law.

230 East 48th Street LLC v. Campisi: 59 Misc.3d 148(A), 2018 NY Slip Op 50798(U) (App. T. 1 Dept.; 6/4/18; Shulman, PJ, Gonzalez, Edmead, JJ)