Tenant's Building Was Part of Rent-Stabilized Horizontal Multiple Dwelling

Landlord sued to evict tenant, claiming that tenant's building was unregulated. Tenant claimed that the building was rent-stabilized because it was part of a horizontal multiple dwelling (HMD). The trial court ruled for landlord, finding that there were insufficient common facilities during the relevant time period to determine that the building was an HMD.

Tenant appealed and won. At trial, landlord's engineer testified only as to the current state of the building. But tenant's testimony and exhibits showed that, until recently, the building and the next-door building had been owned and operated as a single unit, that, at least through 1980, the oil heat in the basement of the adjoining building had provided the heat and hot water to both buildings, that, during that period, all of the gas and electric meters had been located in the adjacent building, that ownership of the buildings had been passed by a single deed six times between 1926 and the present, that the buildings had been subject to single mortgages and insurance polices, and that DHCR and HPD records listed the combined buildings as having seven or eight apartments. The court noted that adjoining buildings constitute an HMD if, on the date the building first became subject to rent stabilization, there were sufficient indicators of common facilities and common ownership, management, and operation to warrant treating the housing as an integrated unit. Buildings built before Jan. 1, 1974, containing more than six units are subject to rent stabilization, and tenant showed that the buildings were an HMD before that date.

TJA Realty, LLC v. Hermosa: 2017 NY Slip Op 50858(U), 2017 WL 2800719 (App. T. 2 Dept.; 6/23/17; Ellot, JP, Pesce, Solomon, JJ)