On December 17, 2020, by a 4-3 decision and over a strong dissent, the Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the Appellate Division in Peyton v. NYC Board of Standards and Appeals, 2020 N.Y. Slip Op. 07662. The decision is an unseemly show of deference to the Board of Standards and Appeals, a body that is widely viewed as captive to the real estate industry, on a pure question of law as to … <Read More>
Court Decisions
Commercial tenant unprotected by new law
Commercial tenant claimed the 2019 Housing law required owners to provide a written notice of nonpayment of rent. The owner of a building located at 41 East 11th Street, Manhattan, filed a petition in Civil Court to evict its commercial tenant, Washington Square Institute, for non-payment of rent. The owner claimed rent in the amount of $240,007 for the period of August 2019 through October 2019, calculated at the monthly rent of $67,561. The … <Read More>
Residents Prevent Development in Fight Over Open Space
Appellate Division finds that Buildings improperly issued construction permit for nursing home after misinterpreting the zoning resolution. Park West Village is a complex located on a superblock bounded by West 100th Street to the north, West 97th Street to the south, Columbus Avenue to the east, and Amsterdam Avenue to the west on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The complex was built in the 1950s and 1960s as part of a federally … <Read More>
Landlord Fined $53,100 for Residential Tenants’ Illegal Transient Use
The Appellate Division affirmed fines for illegal conversion of residential units as hotel rooms. 360 West 43rd Street is a 28-story, 264 rent-stabilized unit building in Midtown, Manhattan. On June 5, 2015, the owner sent three tenants a letter advising them that their leases would be terminated and they would be evicted if they continued illegally renting out the apartments for hotel use.
Balcony Ruled Not Part of Loft
Loft tenant counted terrace/balcony to reach statutory minimum of 400 square feet. David Coventry rented unit 1109 of a loft building located at 475 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn. Coventry applied for coverage and protection under the Loft Law. The owner of 475 Kent Avenue opposed, arguing that unit 1109 measured less 400 square feet, the minimum size required to be covered by the Loft Law. Coventry responded that unit 1109 would meet the 400 square foot … <Read More>
Challenge to Denial of Hardship Application Fails on Appeal
Developer claimed that Commissioners irrationally and prejudicially analyzed hardship application, and that designation amounted to an unconstitutional taking. In 1990, Landmarks designated the City and Suburban Homes Company, First Avenue Estate an individual City landmark. The block-sized development is bounded East 64th and 65th Streets and York and First Avenues. Built between 1819 and 1915, it was constructed to provide high-quality housing to low-income New Yorkers in an alternative to crowded, poorly ventilated tenement buildings. … <Read More>