Landlord Must Renew Leases to Hospital for Apartments Used by Nurses

Facts: In the 1960s, prior landlord rented apartments to tenant hospital. Tenant, in turn, sublet apartments to nurses as affiliated subtenants. Tenant continued to rent six apartments that are now rent-stabilized. Under the rent stabilization law, the apartments remained rent-stabilized as long as subtenants used apartments as their primary residences. Tenant hospital, as an institution, couldn't itself be a primary resident. Landlord brought court action, claiming that this law gave tenant an improper right to rent the apartments indefinitely as dormitory rooms for an ever-changing succession of nurses. The court ruled against landlord, and landlord appealed. Court: Landlord loses. The rent stabilization law was amended specifically to treat affiliated residential subtenants of not-for-profit hospitals as tenants. Tenant needn't get landlord's consent before subletting. The court found nothing unconstitutional about the law; there was no taking of property.

Manocherian v. Lenox Hill Hospital: NYLJ, p. 21, col. 5 (9/23/93) (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Sullivan, JP, Ellerin, Kupferman, Ross, Asch, JJ)