Apartment Neither Newly Created Nor Previously Temporarily Exempt

Tenant sued landlord for rent overcharge and improper deregulation of his rent-stabilized apartment. Tenant moved into the unit in November 2007 and paid $2,250 per month in rent at all times since then. Landlord sent tenant a tenancy termination notice in January 2020. Tenant claimed fraud, based on landlord's failure to register the tenancy with the DHCR, to offer a rent-stabilized vacancy lease, and to register a legal regulated rent. In response, landlord claimed that it was entitled to charge tenant a first rent because the apartment had been altered extensively to the point that the prior apartment didn't exist. Landlord also claimed that, prior to tenant's occupancy, the apartment had been temporarily exempt from stabilization for at least four years based on prior occupancy by the building super.

The court ruled for tenant. Landlord failed to show that apartment alterations were so substantial as to render the prior apartment unrecognizable. Here, landlord's relocation of a wall in the old apartment didn't create a new apartment. Landlord also submitted no proof, other than a conclusory affidavit, to support its claim that the unit was previously occupied by a building employee. The apartment was located in an 11-unit residential building constructed before Jan. 1, 1974, and therefore is subject to rent stabilization. The court appointed a special referee to set the legal rent for the apartment. 

Feltman v. 106 Realty LLC: Index No. 162594/2019, 2023 NY Slip Op 31592(U)(Sup. Ct. NY; 5/11/23; Rosado, J)