Trial Needed to Determine if Apartment Was Legally Deregulated

Tenant sued prior landlord in June 2023 after landlord served a 90-day termination notice. Tenant claimed that he was rent stabilized and had been overcharged. He asked the court for a ruling on his regulatory status. The current landlord stepped into the case and asked the court to rule without trial that the apartment had been deregulated in 2009. The court ruled for landlord and dismissed tenant's claims.

Tenant appealed and the case was reopened. Questions of fact as to whether the claimed high-rent deregulation of the apartment was legal and legitimate required a trial. It was unclear whether the last tenant registered as rent stabilized in 2008 was a residential or commercial tenant. The question of that tenant's use of the apartment must be resolved before determining whether the former landlord was permitted to collect two 20 percent vacancy increases it applied during that period to reach the 2009 high-rent vacancy deregulation threshold of $2,000 per month. The court also must look at the totality of the circumstances to determine whether there was a fraudulent scheme to remove the apartment from rent regulation. 

Hadzovic v. Buckley Sch. in the City of NY: Index No. 155590/23, App. No. 4311, Case No. 2024-04707, 2025 NY Slip Op 02851 (App. Div. 1; 5/8/25; Manzanet-Daniels, JP, Kennedy, Scarpulla, Mendez, Rodriguez, JJ)