Commercial Tenant's Residential Use Made Building Rent Stabilized

Landlord sued to evict tenant and claimed that the building was unregulated because it contained fewer than six apartments. Landlord claimed that the building contained four apartments but once contained a fifth apartment behind the left side of a store on the first floor. Tenant claimed that the building once contained six apartments because there was once another apartment behind the right side of the store. The court ruled for landlord after a jury trial, finding that the store tenant's residential use of the right side area behind the store didn't make that a housing accommodation.

Tenant appealed and won. Although the area in question was separated from the store only by a curtain, Rent Stabilization Code Section 2520.6(a) defines a "housing accommodation" as "that part of any building or structure, occupied or intended to be occupied by one or more individuals as a residence, home, dwelling unit or apartment." The store tenant had lived in the back of her store for some years with prior landlord's knowledge. So, these two rooms were a sixth housing accommodation, making the building rent stabilized.

124 Meserole, LLC v. Recko: 55 Misc.3d 146(A), 2017 NY Slip Op 50686(U) (App. T. 2 Dept.; 5/19/17; Solomon, JP, Pesce, Elliot, JJ)