Newly Created Apartment Was Never Deregulated

Landlord sued to evict tenant it claimed was unregulated. Tenant claimed that she was rent stabilized, that her apartment had been improperly deregulated, and that she had been overcharged.

The court ruled for tenant. It was undisputed that landlord had combined two apartments to create tenant’s apartment in 2014 and that the reconfiguration of an apartment into something so unrecognizable as to be construed a new apartment entitled landlord to set a first rent at market rate. Landlord argued that tenant’s apartment therefore had been deregulated. Tenant argued that the apartment remained subject to rent stabilization because the first rent for the unit was $2,000 per month, which was below the deregulation threshold then in effect.

The court ruled for tenant. Former RSC Section 2520.11(r)(12), in effect in 2014, provided that, for the first rent resulting from combining the two units to be deregulated, the rent amount would have to exceed the statutory threshold for deregulation, which in 2014 was $2,500. Here, the newly created apartment never became subject to deregulation because the monthly rent charged was below $2,500.

75 UWS Prop. LLC v. Quinn: Index No. 300559/2002, 2025 NY Slip Op 50113(U), 85 Misc.2d 1207(A(Civ. Ct. NY; 2/3/25; Stoller, J)