Maid's Room in Co-op Not Covered

Facts: A rent-stabilized tenant lived in Apartment 4G since 1974. In 1980, tenant also rented Apartment 2B, a maid's room on another floor of the building. In 1981 the building underwent a cooperative conversion. Tenant purchased the shares to Apartment 4G; landlord didn't allocate shares to any of the maids' rooms located on the second floor. When tenant's lease to the maid's room expired in 1983, landlord refused to renew. Tenant complained to the DHCR. The DRA ruled that Apartment 2B wasn't subject to rent stabilization. Tenant appealed, arguing that Apartment 2B was an integral part of his residence. The DHCR ruled that Apartment 2B wasn't exempt from rent stabilization. But, the DHCR found that the question was whether tenant occupied Apartment 2B as his primary residence. The DHCR ordered landlord cooperative corporation to either start a court action or give tenant a renewal lease, and landlord appealed. The lower court agreed that the issue was primary residence. It ruled that landlord didn't serve a proper notice of non-renewal and that, as long as 4G was tenant's primary residence, tenant was entitled to a renewal lease for 2B. Landlord appealed. Court: The issue isn't primary residence. The issue is whether tenant can be a co-op shareholder and a rent-stabilized tenant at the same time. The co-op offering plan described the maids' rooms as storage rooms rented on a month-to-month basis. Tenant didn't challenge this description at the time. And, because he is a shareholder and proprietary lessee, tenant can't claim to be a non-purchasing tenant. The court also found there was no proof that the maid's room was a dwelling unit within the meaning of the rent stabilization law.

[Matter of 10 West 66th Street Corp. v. NYS DHCR: NYLJ, p. 21, col. 3 (12/4/92) (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Ellerin, JP, Wallach, Ross, Kassal, Rubin, JJ)].