Two Combined Apartments Deregulated

Landlord applied for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant's two rent-stabilized apartments. Landlord claimed that the apartments were combined and should be treated as one. The DHCR ruled for landlord, and tenant appealed. The court ruled for tenant and revoked the DHCR's order. The DHCR and landlord then appealed. The appeals court ruled for the DHCR and landlord. Although the two apartments weren't connected at the time landlord applied for deregulation, they had been physically connected for 15 years until just before landlord applied for deregulation. Tenants intended and, in fact, treated the units as a single residence, even though there were separate leases, registrations, rent bills, and different tenants of record. The smaller apartment had no built-in kitchen facilities and functioned as the bedroom of the son of the tenant of the larger apartment. The DHCR was authorized to conduct an inspection while tenant's PAR was pending, and the DHCR's finding that the appliances in the smaller apartment didn't constitute a kitchen were within its expertise. The fact that landlord argued that the two apartments were separate in a prior eviction case didn't stop landlord from arguing here that the apartments were combined.

Bianchi v. DHCR: NYLJ, 3/29/04, p. 24, col. 5 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Andrias, JP, Williams, Lerner, Friedman, Marlow, JJ)