Part of Apartment Used as Medical Office

The DHCR ruled that tenant's apartment wasn't subject to rent stabilization because it had been rented to tenant for use as a medical office. Tenant appealed. Although she had a commercial lease, she had started living in the apartment while she worked there shortly after moving in 30 years earlier. The court sent the case back to the DHCR for further fact-finding. Upon review, the DHCR ruled for tenant. Tenant showed that she and her family had lived in the apartment for a long time with landlord's knowledge, that the building's certificate of occupancy permitted residential use of the eighth-floor apartment, that the diagram for the apartment showed only one of the seven rooms was designated for commercial use, and that tenant's actual commercial use was limited. So tenant's mixed-use apartment was rent stabilized.

853 Seventh Ave. Assocs.: DHCR Admin. Rev. Dckt. No. PE420046RO (1/29/02) [7-pg. doc.]