Tenant's J-51 Apartment Illegally Deregulated

Landlord sued to evict tenant after her lease expired. Landlord claimed that tenant was unregulated because of a high-rent vacancy before she moved in and because, in any event, the building’s J-51 benefits had expired during her occupancy. Tenant claimed that she was rent stabilized. She said that landlord failed to notify her that her unit could be deregulated when landlord no longer received J-51 benefits. And landlord had illegally deregulated her apartment before she moved in. Landlord argued that the “new principle of law” imposed by New York’s highest court in the case of Roberts v. Tishman Speyer Properties shouldn’t be applied retroactively to this case, which was pending when Roberts was decided. The court ruled for tenant. The Roberts case didn’t create new law but simply interpreted an existing 1993 statute. Landlord improperly deregulated the apartment before tenant moved in, since high-rent vacancy rules don’t apply to rent-stabilized apartments in J-51 buildings. The fact that the building’s J-51 status had expired while tenant lived in the apartment also didn’t deregulate tenant’s apartment since tenant’s leases didn’t contain a required rider notifying tenant that her rent-stabilized status would expire when the tax abatement ended.

72A Realty Associates v. Lucas: NYLJ, 6/2/10, p. 25, col. 5 (Civ. Ct. NY; Wendt, J)