Landlord Fails to Prove Apartment Was Properly Deregulated

Landlord sued to evict unregulated tenant when tenant's lease expired. Tenant claimed that he was rent stabilized. The court ruled for tenant and dismissed the case. Landlord appealed and lost. Tenant showed that the legal rent for his apartment hadn't reached the $2,000 deregulation threshold in effect during the relevant period. Landlord failed to show there was any question about that. There were glaring gaps and undisputed mischaracterizations in the rent registration records filed with the DHCR, as well as an absence of any proof supporting landlord's version of a rental history of the apartment that wasn't reflected in any registration statement.

360-364 Third Owner LLC v. Murray: 57 Misc.3d 156(A), 2017 NY Slip Op 51630(U) (App. T. 1 Dept.; 11/30/17; Lowe III, PJ, Schoenfeld, Shulman, JJ)