Landlord Temporarily Stopped from Recovering Entire Building

Facts: Landlords, husband and wife, owned a five-story, 15-apartment tenement building and sought to convert it to a single-family home with five bedrooms and six bathrooms. They sent nonrenewal notices to all rent-stabilized tenants in the building as their leases expired. Landlords and their baby currently lived in a small, top floor, Brooklyn brownstone apartment. Five tenants sued landlord and asked the court to stop landlord from terminating their tenancies and going forward with the eviction cases. Tenants argued that landlord's plans violated the intent of the rent-stabilization law. Landlords claimed that nothing in the law prevented recovery of the entire building, as long as they proved their good-faith intent to occupy the building. Court: Tenants win, at least temporarily. The court stopped landlord from going forward with the eviction cases while it considered the case. The fact that landlords lived in a small apartment made it more difficult for landlords to prove their good-faith intent to use the whole building for owner occupancy.

Pultz v. Economakis: NYLJ, 7/14/05, p. 18, col. 1 (Sup. Ct. NY; Feinman, J)