Not-for-Profit Organization Can Evict Long-Term Tenants

Facts: Tenants were long-term residents of a not-for-profit residence for 152 single women. Landlord stated that the home's purpose was to provide temporary housing for working women between the ages of 18 and 45 coming to New York City, for a period not to exceed four years. The four-year restriction was contained in written admissions forms but wasn't always enforced. In 1983, landlord gave written termination notices to all residents who had stayed over four years and gave them two years to move. Tenants sued landlord to stop them from evicting long-term residents. They also filed a complaint with the DHCR, claiming that landlord's attempt to evict them was illegal because they were covered under rent stabilization. The court temporarily barred the evictions in 1985 while the case and DHCR complaints were pending. The DHCR issued a ruling, upheld on appeal, that the residence was exempt from rent stabilization because it was operated for charitable purposes on a nonprofit basis.

Priolo v. St. Mary's Home for Working Girls, Inc.: NYLJ, p. 28, col. 5 (3/13/95) (Sup. Ct. NY; Cohen, J)