Apartment Was Improperly Deregulated After Base Date Vacancy

Landlord sued to evict tenant, claiming that tenant's apartment was deregulated. Tenant claimed that he was rent stabilized. The court ruled for tenant and dismissed the case. Landlord appealed and lost. The lower court properly considered rental events going back more than four years since that was for the purpose of determining whether the apartment was rent regulated. And former Rent Stabilization Code Section 2526.1(a)(3)(iii), in effect during the relevant period, didn't support a finding that the apartment was deregulated. The appeals court found that the language of that section "necessarily presumes that the first tenant after a vacancy [or temporary exemption] is offered a rent-stabilized lease." In this case, the first lease offered to the prior tenant after the temporary exemption expired in 1999 stated that the apartment wasn't subject to rent stabilization.

Thompson Assets, LLC v. Raffelo: 61 Misc.3d 130(A), 2018 NY Slip Op 51411(U) (App. T. 1 Dept.; 10/5/18; Ling-Cohan, JP, Gonzalez, Cooper, JJ)