Oral Agreement, Mistaken Lease Don't Make Exempt Tenant Rent Stabilized

Landlord sued to evict tenant, claiming that her apartment was unregulated. Landlord relied on a prior DHCR order exempting the building from rent stabilization based on a post-1974 substantial rehabilitation. Tenant didn’t dispute that the building was exempt. But tenant claimed that she was entitled to be treated as a rent-stabilized tenant because prior landlord told her before she signed her lease that he would charge her the same rent as a rent-stabilized tenant. Tenant’s lease also stated that she was subject to rent stabilization. The court ruled for landlord. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant’s oral agreement with prior landlord affected only the amount of rent to be charged and wasn’t enough to show that there was any agreement that she would have a right to renewal leases. In addition, landlord’s use of a lease that mistakenly stated that the exempt apartment was subject to rent stabilization didn’t render the apartment subject to regulation or entitle tenant to rent-stabilized renewal leases.

17 Maple Avenue Holding, LLC v. Jackson: 2010 N.Y. Slip Op. 50220(U), 2010 WL 536998 (App. T. 2 Dept.; Molia, JP, LaCava, Iannacci, JJ)