Loft Unit Never Deregulated

Landlord sued to evict tenant for nonpayment of rent. Landlord claimed in its petition that the building wasn't subject to rent regulation. Tenant argued that the building had been registered with the Loft Board and that landlord's petition was defective. The court ruled for tenant and dismissed the case. Landlord appealed and lost. The loft was registered with the Loft Board from 1983 through 1995. After the loft was legalized, landlord didn't get a final Loft Board order setting its initial legal regulated rent. The unit was never exempted from coverage or deregulation under the Loft Law. The May 1982 buy out occurred prior to the enactment of the Loft Law, so it didn't exempt the unit from coverage. Also, the landlord didn't deregulate the unit by purchasing the fixtures of a prior tenant. And the unit wasn't deregulated based on the abandonment of the unit by a prior tenant.

M.R.A. Realties, Inc. v. Groen: NYLJ, p. 29, col. 3 (4/1/99) (App. T. 1 Dept.; McCooe, JP, Davis, J)