Corastor Holding Co. v. Mastny

12 Misc. 3d 13

This text of 12 Misc. 3d 13 (Corastor Holding Co. v. Mastny) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Corastor Holding Co. v. Mastny, 12 Misc. 3d 13 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

Order modified by providing that, upon reargument, tenant’s motion for summary judgment is denied; as so modified, affirmed without costs.

In this holdover proceeding predicated on the service of a notice purporting to terminate a monthly tenancy, the petition alleges that tenant resides in a unit which is subject to the Loft Law (Multiple Dwelling Law art 7-C) but that tenant is not protected under said law because, by written agreement with the benefit of counsel, he expressly waived any rights under said law. (The waiver appears in a rider to tenant’s expired 1995 lease.) After submitting an answer in which he asserted that he is protected under the Loft Law or, in the alternative, under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 (L 1974, ch 576 § 4 [ETPA]), tenant moved for summary judgment. In support of his motion, tenant asserted that, after taking possession of the unit in 1995, he installed residential fixtures and furnishings with landlord’s predecessor’s permission; that the unit was not then registered with the Loft Board, although 10 other units in the building were; and that, in 1997, landlord’s predecessor amended its interim multiple dwelling (IMD) registration to include the subject unit and two other previously unregistered units. Tenant claimed that his 1995 waiver of his rights under the Loft Law was invalid as to rights which only accrued in 1997 and was, in any event, an unenforceable waiver of rent-regulatory protection. Tenant further asserted that the unit must be found to be subject to the Loft Law because landlord had admitted as much in the petition and because landlord’s predecessor’s 1997 registration of the unit had gone unchal[15]*15lenged for 30 days. With respect to the latter claim, tenant relied on section 2-05 (b) (5) of the New York City Loft Board Regulations (29 RCNY), which provides that the “[fjailure of an owner, lessee or agent to contest coverage within 30 days of the issue date of an IMD Registration Number . . . precludes said applicant from contesting coverage” (see e.g. Application of Bennett, Loft Board order No. 625 [June 17, 1987] [“an unchallenged registration is the legal equivalent of a Board order upholding coverage”]; see also Mongelli v Sharp, 140 AD2d 273 [1988]). In the alternative, tenant claimed that he is protected under the ETPA because the building contained more than six residential units and was built before 1974 and because, inter alia, his lease specifically provided for his residential use, and landlord’s predecessor had acquiesced therein.

In opposition to the motion, landlord asserted, inter alia, that tenant had paid no rent since 1997 and owed $124,000; that tenant was not protected under the Loft Law because he had taken possession of the unit after the close of the statutory window period; that the Loft Board filings were made under a requirement of law and did not constitute acquiescence to residential conversion; and that tenant had validly waived any rights under the Loft Law and the ETPA. Moreover, landlord claimed, tenant failed to show that landlord had acquiesced in the residential use.

In an order dated May 18, 2004 the court below correctly found that landlord’s predecessor in interest had acquiesced in the residential use, inasmuch as such use was expressly provided for in the lease. Accordingly, the court ruled that tenant was protected under the ETPA. Landlord subsequently moved for “renewal,” asserting that the Court of Appeals decision in Wolinsky v Kee Yip Realty Corp. (2 NY3d 487 [2004]) constituted a change in the law and that, in light of Wolinsky, tenant could not be protected under the ETPA since the building is located in an M-l zoning district in which residential use is not permitted. In opposition, tenant asserted, inter alia, that Wolinsky was inapplicable because it applied only to buildings that could not be legalized and here the building could be, and had to be, legalized. In fact, tenant showed landlord had already filed plans with the Loft Board to legalize the building, including the subject unit. In these circumstances, the governing case, tenant argued, was Tracto Equip. Corp. v White (NYLJ, Mar. 21, 1997, at 36, col 4 [App Term, 2d & 11th Jud Dists]), in which this court, prior to the determination in Wolinsky, had held that a [16]*16loft unit converted to residential use in a building, other parts of which constituted an IMD, was protected under the ETPA.

While purporting to deny the renewal motion, the court below in effect allowed reargument and now ruled that the unit was subject to the Loft Law. The ground for the court’s holding was that landlord’s predecessor’s act of registering the building with the Loft Board had subjected the unit to coverage, since the registration was not challenged within 30 days. While it found no provision in the Loft Law or Loft Board Regulations which prohibits a waiver of benefits, the court held that the Loft Law must be read in pari materia with the Rent Stabilization Code (citing BLF Realty Holding Corp. v Kasher, 299 AD2d 87 [1st Dept 2002]) and that the no-waiver provision of the latter must be read into the former. Accordingly, the court further ruled that tenant’s waiver of Loft Law coverage was unenforceable.

In our view, tenant failed to establish, on his motion for summary judgment, that the unit is subject to the Loft Law. Since the building is located in an M-l zoning district, in which residential use is not permitted, the building became subject to the Loft Law by virtue of the 1987 amendment to said law (L 1987, ch 466, § 1, adding Multiple Dwelling Law § 281 [4], eff July 27, 1987), which brought buildings located in such zoning districts under the Loft Law. With respect to the registration of buildings or parts thereof which became subject to the Loft Law pursuant to Multiple Dwelling Law § 281 (4), the New York City Loft Board Regulations provide, in pertinent part:

“(1) The provisions of these rules, § 2-05, shall be fully applicable to interim multiple dwellings or additional covered units, which are subject to coverage under Article 7-C solely pursuant to MDL § 281 (4), except as provided below:
“(i) MDL § 284 (2) requires registration of all interim multiple dwellings within sixty days of the date of the enactment. Interim multiple dwellings or additional covered units subject to Article 7-C solely pursuant to MDL § 281 (4) shall be registered on or before September 25, 1987. The initial registration period ends on June 30, 1988” (29 RCNY 2-05 [e] [1]).

Inasmuch as the purported amended registration herein was not filed within the period set forth in this regulation for initial registrations, it is questionable whether the amendment can be given the effect sought, at least in the absence of a showing of [17]*17residential use in the statutory window period (see e.g. Application of Chakrapani Corp., Loft Board order No. 2487 [Feb. 22, 2000] [report and recommendation of director of hearings] [“(t)he fact that the owner registered the second floor unit as an IMD in 1998 does not make the unit an IMD unit where it was not registered as such in the initial registration in 1983, and was never found covered by the Loft Board”]; Application of 303 Park Ave. S. Assoc., Loft Board order No. 2209 [Jan. 22, 1998] [allowing amendment of a registration only upon a showing of residential use during the window period]; but see e.g. Application of Founders Albatross Inc., Loft Board order No. 2567 [Sept.

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Related

Wolinsky v. Kee Yip Realty Corp.
812 N.E.2d 302 (New York Court of Appeals, 2004)
Gloveman Realty Corp. v. Jefferys
18 A.D.3d 812 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2005)
Mongelli v. Sharp
140 A.D.2d 273 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1988)
Zabari v. New York City Loft Board
245 A.D.2d 200 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1997)
BLF Realty Holding Corp. v. Kasher
299 A.D.2d 87 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2002)
Paikoff v. Harris
185 Misc. 2d 372 (Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
12 Misc. 3d 13, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/corastor-holding-co-v-mastny-nyappterm-2006.