Amended Law Bars Landlord from Recovering Entire Building for Owner Occupancy

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenants, claiming that it sought to recover all apartments in the building in order to convert it into a single-family home to be used as landlord's primary residence. The court granted tenant's request to dismiss the case. Effective June 14, 2019, the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 amended the Rent Stabilization Law (RSL) to prohibit recovery of more than one apartment in a building for owner occupancy purposes. Landlord argued incorrectly that this amendment to the law applied only to future cases, and not to this case that was commenced before the date the 2019 law was enacted. And any Rent Stabilization Code provision not yet amended to reflect amended RSL Section 26-511 was unenforceable.

Fried v. Lopez: Index No. 66333/18, 2019 NY Slip Op 29237 (Civ Ct. NY; 7/31/19; Harris, J)