Jones v. Gumbs, 84034/2015
Four family building with seven residential units
Landlord filed a holdover proceeding to evict tenant whose lease had expired. Tenant claimed the building was a legal four family home, but contained seven residential units which made the building rent stabilized. The landlord claimed that the building currently contained less than six residential units and could not be considered rent stabilized.
The court relied on legal precedent and a DOB violation when it ruled that the building contained six or more units and was therefore rent stabilized. The Court stated that the units did not need to be legal in order to subject the premises to rent stabilization.
Furthermore, and this may be the worst part, the Court stated that even if one or two units were now removed, the building would still be subject to rent stabilization because it contained more than six units when the DOB violation was issued. Thus, the Court found that the tenant should have been offered a rent stabilized lease and ultimately dismissed the landlord’s eviction action.
If you are in a similar situation and need legal assistance, do not hesitate to call the Law Firm of Vaughn, Weber & Prakope, PLLC at (516) 858-2620.
Today, it was decided that the rent increases for rent stabilized apartments in New York will be 3% on 1 year leases and 6% on 2 year leases. These rent increases are down from last year but definitely higher than rumored earlier this month. The topic has attracted much publicity in the New York area over the past few weeks. It had been thought that the rent increases would be denied and the current rental rates for this year would freeze for the time being. Now that the increase has been approved, landlords for Rent Stabilized buildings can begin to prepare for offering their renewal leases with the increased rates.
We will post more about this topic in the next week. If you are a landlord in a rent stabilized building and need assistance preparing a renewal lease or commencing eviction proceedings, please feel free to call (516) 858-2620 to speak with a Landlord Tenant Attorney!
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