520 East 81st Street Associates v. Lenox Hill Hospital

74 Misc. 2d 438, 345 N.Y.S.2d 895, 1973 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1790
CourtCivil Court of the City of New York
DecidedJune 26, 1973
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 74 Misc. 2d 438 (520 East 81st Street Associates v. Lenox Hill Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Civil Court of the City of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
520 East 81st Street Associates v. Lenox Hill Hospital, 74 Misc. 2d 438, 345 N.Y.S.2d 895, 1973 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1790 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1973).

Opinion

David H. Edwards, Jr., J.

This is a holdover summary proceeding. The petitioner is the owner and landlord of the premises 520 East 81st Street, in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York. The respondent Lenox Hill Hospital, is a volunteer nonprofit hospital. During the period from 1968 into 1970 it became the lessee of 14 apartments, by written rental agreements, in the multiple dwelling owned by the petitioner. The remaining respondents are subtenants to whom Lenox Hill Hospital sublet the 14 apartments. All of Lenox Hill’s leases have expired and since the date of expiration it has remained in the various apartments on a month to month basis. All of Lenox Hill’s subtenants are upon the premises on a month to month basis either by expiration of the written subleases or as monthly tenants pursuant to written subleases. The building, a multiple dwelling completed after February 1, 1947, on its face appears to be subject to the New York City Bent Stabilization Law under title YY of chapter 51 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York.

The petitioner has served 30-day notices terminating the tenancies upon the Lenox Hill and upon the occupants and subtenants of the 14 apartments, effective as of February 28, 1973, pleading two grounds as a basis therefor; first, that the premises are not subject to the Rent .Stabilization Law of 1969, under the Vacancy Decontrol Act (L. 1971, ch. 371, § 6) having become vacant after June 30, 1971, and secondly, that the premises are not subject to the Rent Stabilization Law under the Primary Residence Act (L. 1971, ch. 373, § 2), as the housing accommodations are not occupied by the tenant, Lenox Hill, as its primary residence. During the course of the trial the court entertained [440]*440a third ground as a basis for the petitioner’s claim to possession, namely, that the respondent, Lenox Hill Hospital, not being an actual occupant of any portion of the premises, and having sublet all portions of all the apartments in question, it is not covered by the emergency rent statutes as it was not the intention of the Legislature to grant nonoccupying tenants such as this respondent the protection of the emergency rent laws.

The denials and affirmative defenses interposed by the respondents essentially dispute that the premises ever became vacant; assert that the Primary Residence Law is not applicable because of failure of the landlord to secure an order of decontrol from the City Housing Rent Agency as required by the statute, and finally that the Rent Stabilization Law by the terms of its enactment has not excluded nonoccupancy tenants from the protection of the emergency rent laws.

The evidence adduced during trial disclosed that in 1959 Lenox Hill Hospital commenced a program for furnishing housing accommodations for its nurses as both an inducement in its efforts to recruit nurses and as a convenience to the nurses. In furtherance of this program it eventually rented apartments in New York City in various buildings which were fairly close to the site of the hospital, capable of accommodating approximately 300 nurses of the hospital staff. Fourteen of these apartments are the premises in question in this proceeding. By written leases and with the consent of the landlord, Lenox Hill Hosptal sublet these apartments exclusively to members of its nursing staff. It provided the basic furniture for each of the apartments, approximating in cost for these apartments about $15,000; however, it did not occupy any portion of any of the premises for the conduct of its own affairs. The rent charged to the nurses was always less than that charged to Lenox Hill by the owner. The difference was written off by Lenox Hill as an expense. No rent was ever paid by the nurses to the owner. Instead, each month, with its own funds, Lenox Hill paid the rent reserved in its leases to the owner and collected from its employees the rent charged respectively to the nurses. If there ever was a time when an apartment was not occupied by a nurse, Lenox Hill nonetheless paid the full rent to its landlord, the petitioner. The nurses paid their own electric and telephone bills which they secured in their own names. Lenox Hill’s name did not appear in any of the nameplates for the apartments, but rather the names of the nurses and their families were placed on the doors and bells. Eight of the apartments, apartments 4-0, 14-D, 11-F, 6-Gr, 11-Gr, 12-H, 11-K [441]*441and 10-L became vacant and were sublet subsequent to June 30, 1971, the effective date for decontrol because of vacancy under the Vacancy Decontrol Act.

During the course of the trial I dismissed the claim of the petitioner that it is entitled to posession of the premises because the accommodations are not being used as the primary residence of the respondent, Lenox Hill Hospital. I adhere to this ruling. The petitioner has not complied with the condition precedent required by the statute in securing an order of decontrol from the City Housing Bent Agency.

With respect to the landlord’s contention that eight of these apartments became destabilized because of vacancies occurring after June 30, 1971, I find against the petitioner. Although, for these apartments, prior nurses may have moved out and new nurses moved in at a period after June 30, 1971, I do not find that thereby the premises became vacant. Although not occupied by a nurse nonetheless on all occasions the furnishings and possessions of Lenox Hill were always present upon the premises and Lenox Hill always paid and the petitioner always accepted the rent reserved in the prime lease. Lenox Hill at least was always constructively in possession of the premises.

With respect to the third ground — is Lenox Hill Hospital entitled to the protection of the emergency rent laws by reason of being a subletting tenant landlord not occupying any portion of the rented premises — I think it is not so entitled. Among the reasons for the enactment of the emergency rent measures by both the City and the State of New York has been and is the acute shortage of dwellings. Lenox Hill has in effect removed a goodly portion of the available residential units in the City of New York from the general market by restricting the rental of these apartments exclusively to nurses employed by Lenox Hill. It is in effect seeking to create a group of dormitories for its professional staff carved out of the pouce housing accommodations available to the residents of this city. I cannot conceive that this was within the intention of the Legislature. The Bent Stabilization Law was also enacted to forestall profiteering. While by no means is Lenox Hill Hospital exacting unjust or unreasonable rents from its nurses and subtenants (quite the opposite — the rents charged by Lenox Hill to its employees are quite reasonable and fair and considerably below the rents the market would bring) nonetheless Lenox Hill does derive something of value to itself in having these housing accommodations available for its nurses, namely the ability to attract and recruit nurses for its staff, some being recruited [442]*442from as far away as Ireland, partially induced by the assurance of exclusive housing accommodations. As commendable as it may be for Lenox Hill, a volunteer nonprofit hospital, to attempt to secure an adequate staff for its essential and meritorious purposes I do not conceive that the emergency rent laws were enacted for the purpose of assisting any association to further its own business ends. Finally, the Bent Stabilization Law is intended under some circumstances, such as a vacancy after June 30, 1971, to provide some rent relief to-owngrs_of^ dwelling places in their economic plight.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Guerra v. District of Columbia Rental Housing Commission
501 A.2d 786 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1985)
Park South Associates v. Mason
123 Misc. 2d 750 (Civil Court of the City of New York, 1984)
214 Associates v. Teitlebaum
117 Misc. 2d 234 (Civil Court of the City of New York, 1982)
Lindstrom v. Conte
113 Misc. 2d 139 (Civil Court of the City of New York, 1982)
Goldner v. Doknovitch
88 Misc. 2d 88 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 1976)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
74 Misc. 2d 438, 345 N.Y.S.2d 895, 1973 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1790, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/520-east-81st-street-associates-v-lenox-hill-hospital-nycivct-1973.