Two Adjoining Buildings Are Horizontal Multiple Dwelling

Tenant complained that landlord refused to give her a rent-stabilized renewal lease. Landlord claimed that tenant wasn't rent stabilized, because the building contained fewer than six apartments. The DRA ruled for tenant, finding that the building and the adjoining building together contained six or more apartments. They were rent stabilized as a horizontal multiple dwelling. Landlord appealed and lost. The two buildings have always been adjoined. They were purchased by prior landlord under a single deed in 1972, and sold by separate deeds in 2003. Since at least 1972, there was only one heating system for both buildings. There was also a common lighting system for the outside perimeter of the buildings, shared roof space, a shared fire escape, and an identical exterior facade. Architecturally, the buildings appeared to be a single building, even though an interior weight-bearing wall separated the two sides from the basements to the top floors.

Pollock: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. UI420003RO (4/5/07) [10-pg. doc.]