Demolition Application Denied

Landlord asked the DHCR for permission to refuse to renew tenant's rent-stabilized lease because it intended to demolish the building. The DRA ruled against landlord because landlord had failed to send tenant a lease termination notice between 90 and 150 days before the lease expired. Landlord appealed and claimed that Rent Stabilization Code Section 2524.5(b) and DHCR Operational Bulletin 2009-1 permit the DHCR to go forward with a demolition proceeding if landlord can show that its failure to send the termination notice wasn't willful. The DHCR ruled against landlord. The code section landlord pointed to applied only where the window period for lease termination has not yet occurred. Since the window period in this case already had been reached, landlord didn't qualify for this exception.

Wallabout Residence LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. YF210012RO (8/4/10) [4-pg. doc.]