New York University v. Temporary State Housing Rent Commission

201 Misc. 315, 105 N.Y.S.2d 937, 1951 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1983
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 6, 1951
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 201 Misc. 315 (New York University v. Temporary State Housing Rent Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New York University v. Temporary State Housing Rent Commission, 201 Misc. 315, 105 N.Y.S.2d 937, 1951 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1983 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1951).

Opinion

Hammer, J.

The petitioner herein, New York University, as landlord of housing accommodations at 50 Washington Square South, 245 and 249 Sullivan Street, and 93 West 3rd Street, Manhattan, New York City, seeks review of a determination and order of the Temporary State Housing Rent Commission pursuant to article 78 of the Civil Practice Act and section 9 of the State Residential Rent Law (L. 1946, ch. 274, as amd. by L. 1950, ch. 250, and L. 1951, ch. 443.) The determination and order to be reviewed denied petitioner’s application for certificates of eviction of residential tenants from the premises aforementioned.

Petitioner-seeks, in good faith it is alleged, to recover possession of the premises in order to use them for educational purposes, to wit., a dormitory and dwelling accommodations for members of its student body and staff on a nonprofit basis. On September 29,1950, petitioner applied to the local rent administrator for certificate of eviction on the grounds “(a) that because of immediate and compelling necessity and exceptional circumstances, and because the continued operation of said premises as housing accommodations would impose undue hardships upon it, the petitioner seeks, in good faith, permanently to withdraw said premises from both the housing and non-housing rental markets without any intention of selling them; and (b) that petitioner intends, in good faith, to withdraw said premises from the rental market and that the requested removals or evictions are not inconsistent with the purposes of the Emergency Housing Rent Control Law" [Laws of 1950, chapter 250] or the rent and eviction regulations of the Temporary State Housing Rent Commission promulgated pursuant thereto, and would not be likely to result in the circumvention or evasion thereof.”

[317]*317Proceedings thereafter had before the local rent administrator resulted on or about December 29, 1950, in an order of denial of the certificate of eviction on the ground that the facts in petitioner’s case do not warrant the relief requested under sections 54 and 59 of the regulations. Protest to the State Rent Administrator resulted in further order of denial on or about April 23, 1951. The instant proceeding then followed.

It is petitioner’s contention that the orders of respondent were arbitrary because they contravene section 59 of the Rent and Eviction Regulations; because they deprive petitioner of its property without due process of law and because petitioner established before respondent exceptional circumstances, immediate and compelling necessity in good faith requiring it to use the premises permanently for educational purposes, as a dormitory and dwelling accommodations for members of its student body and staff as an incident of their enrollment in or employment by petitioner’s school of law, on a nonprofit basis, without any intention of selling or renting them.

Respondent commission contends that petitioner has not met the test of section 59 in that it does not intend “ to permanently withdraw occupied housing accommodations from both the housing and non-housing rental markets ”, but on the contrary, intends to substitute “ qualified students and Fellows from throughout the United States and from foreign lands ” for the present residents. Secondly, respondent claims undue hardship ” has not been shown. Thirdly, the respondent claims its general power and right of discretion permitted the denial of the certificate requested without prejudice to another application by petitioner after attempts to relocate the present tenants.

Sections 54 and 59 of the Rent and Eviction Regulations read as follows:

“ Section 54. * * * The Administrator may issue an order granting a certificate if the removal or eviction meets the requirements of Sections 55, 56, 57, 58 or 59. The Administrator may also issue orders granting certificates in other cases if the requested removal or eviction is not inconsistent with the purposes of the Act or these Regulations and would not be likely to result in the circumvention or evasion thereof.

Section 59. * * * A certificate shall be issued where the landlord establishes that he seeks in good faith to permanently withdraw occupied housing accommodations from both the housing and non-housing rental markets without any intent to rent or sell the housing accommodations. No certificate shall [318]*318be issued under this section unless the landlord establishes that he seeks to recover possession of the housing accommodations because of an immediate and compelling necessity and exceptional circumstances and the continued operation of the housing accommodations by the landlord will impose undue hardship on him, or where the granting of the certificate is inconsistent with the purposes of the Act.”

The question presented is whether or not the purposes for which petitioner seeks its certificate are such as constitute a withdrawal of the premises from the rental market. The term rental market ” implies a form of commercial activity which constitutes the public offering of space at rentals calculated to yield a profit. The record presents a proposed use of the premises by petitioner contrary to a use for profit. It intends not to offer the space to the public for profit but only to a limited class of persons consisting of those participating in its educational program, on a nonprofit basis. The dean of petitioner’s school of law avers that the premises are urgently needed to provide dwelling space for the students, staff and faculty of its law school; that this need is immediate; that the personnel to be housed include two to four instructors, six teaching fellows, five Food Law fellows, thirteen fellows in the Inter-American Law Institute, thirteen American graduate students of Latin American law sharing living accommodations with the Inter-American Law Institute fellows, ten Samuel J. Tilden Scholars, ten Elihu Root Scholars, fifty to seventy-five graduate students from outside the metropolitan area, an indefinite number of research assistants for projects not yet implemented. The dean further avers that sound educational policy requires they all live in the immediate vicinity of the law center, that accommodations are most urgently needed for thirteen Latin American fellows now in attendance in the Inter-American Law Institute and for thirteen American fellows who will presently be participating in that program. Continuance of these fellowships it is stated depends on adequate housing facilities for the students and if not available may have to be curtailed or discontinued, thus depriving the petitioner of revenue from tuition fees and ability to promote the educational program intended. Petitioner further urges that the law school is not local in scope but teaches the law of all States and, on a co-operative basis, of foreign countries; that it is sound educational policy to have students in attendance in both undergraduate and graduate courses who come from throughout [319]*319the United States and from foreign countries; that adequate, low-cost dwelling accommodations are needed for them, near the school. This devotion to the afore-mentioned purposes is also urged by petitioner as adequate showing of its good faith and as constituting a permanent withdrawal of the premises from the rental market.

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Related

New York University v. Temporary State Housing Rent Commission
279 A.D. 887 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1952)

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Bluebook (online)
201 Misc. 315, 105 N.Y.S.2d 937, 1951 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1983, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-york-university-v-temporary-state-housing-rent-commission-nysupct-1951.