Apartment Not Destabilized After J-51 Benefits Ended

(Decision submitted by Susan Baumel-Cornicello of the Manhattan law firm of Cornicello & Tendler, LLP, attorneys for the tenant.) Tenant complained of a rent overcharge. Landlord charged tenant a destabilized rent after the building's J-51 benefits ended. The DHCR ruled for tenant, and landlord appealed. The court and appeals court ruled against landlord. Tenant moved into the apartment in 1992, while the building was getting J-51 benefits. Landlord was required to give tenant a lease rider notice that the J-51 benefits expired in June 1993. Landlord didn't do so. So tenant remained rent stabilized, and the DHCR properly found there was a willful rent overcharge. And even though tenant filed his complaint in 2000, the DHCR properly considered events surrounding the signing of tenant's 1992 lease. The DHCR did this to determine whether tenant was rent stabilized, not for purposes of calculating the rent overcharge.

East West Renovating Co. v. DHCR: NYLJ, 3/10/05, p. 26, col. 3 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Tom, JP, Saxe, Ellerin, Nardelli, Sweeny, JJ)