Tenant in Building Converted to Co-op Is No Longer Rent Stabilized

Landlord sued to evict a formerly rent-stabilized tenant, who remained as a tenant following the building's cooperative conversion under a nonprofit eviction plan under the Private Housing Finance Law. Tenant asked the court to dismiss the case, since landlord co-op corporation had continued to offer him rent-stabilized renewal leases for almost 20 years before seeking eviction. The court ruled against tenant, who appealed and lost. Tenant's apartment was now exempt from rent stabilization as a matter of law and landlord wasn't barred from seeking eviction simply because it waited 20 years to do so. The fact that landlord continued to give tenant rent-stabilized renewal leases by mistake created no waiver.  

322 West 47th Street HDFC v. Loo: 2017 NY Slip Op. 06403, 2017 WL 3850743 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 9/5/17; Friedman, JP, Webber, Gesmer, Kern, JJ)