RENT EXCEEDED THE $2700 VACANCY THRESHOLD
In this Kings County nonpayment case, the landlord alleged that the building had been constructed after 1974, and that the residential unit in question was exempt from rent regulation. But when the tenants sought to dismiss the case because the the building was erected back in 1931, the landlord countered with a cross-motion to amend the pleading to provide that the unit was exempt due to high-rent luxury deregulation. After the judge granted the tenant’s motion to dismiss, an appeal followed.
The Appellate Term, Second Department, was of the view that prior to these tenants taking occupancy of the unit back in 2018, the preceding tenant’s rent was $2,229.89, and the owner, upon that’s earlier tenant’s vacancy, incorporated apartment improvements (including relocating perimeter walls), such that the unit’s rent was legitimately increased to $3100
Since, at the time, the governing threshold for high-rent luxury deregulation was $2700, the AT2 thought the unit had been properly deregulated, and that the tenants’ dismissal motion should have been denied.
That sure wasn’t a luxurious outcome for these tenants ….
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DECISION