Landlord Didn't Offer Elderly Tenant Equivalent or Superior Housing

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant in order to take back the apartment for owner occupancy. The court ruled against landlord because she failed to offer the elderly tenant an alternate apartment that was an equivalent or superior nearby housing accommodation at the same or lower regulated rent, as required by Rent Stabilization Code Section 2524.4(a)(2). Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord offered tenant any number of unregulated market-rent apartments and assured tenant that she would pay tenant a stipend to cover the difference between tenant's current rent and the unregulated rent. However, although it may be hard to do so in the current real estate market, the code required landlord to offer a rent-stabilized apartment, and it didn't matter what financial or tenancy terms landlord and tenant might agree to.

Nestor v. Britt: NYLJ, 2/22/12, p. 27, col. 2 (App. T. 1 Dept.; Schoenfeld, JP, Hunter Jr., Torres, JJ)