Tenant Claims Apartment Was Improperly Deregulated After Vacancy

Landlord sued to evict unregulated tenant when tenant’s lease expired. Tenant claimed that she was rent stabilized and that the apartment was improperly deregulated. Tenant asked the court to dismiss the case without a trial or, alternatively, allow pretrial questioning of landlord as to how the apartment was deregulated. The court ruled for tenant in part. There were questions of fact requiring a trial. But if landlord engaged in a fraudulent scheme to improperly deregulate the apartment, any knowledge of the legal registered rent and individual apartment improvements (IAIs) was held solely by landlord. So tenant was entitled to discovery. Tenant’s claim of a fraudulent scheme also made information going back to 1984 relevant to establish an accurate base date rent. So the four-year rule didn’t apply to tenant’s request for information pre-dating the base date.

31-45 Realty Assoc., LLC v. Vasquez: Index No. 62843/2015, NYLJ No. 1202754096317 (Civ. Ct. Queens; 3/16/16; Rodriguez, J)