Romanow v. Heller

121 Misc. 2d 886, 469 N.Y.S.2d 876, 1983 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 4022
CourtCivil Court of the City of New York
DecidedDecember 2, 1983
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 121 Misc. 2d 886 (Romanow v. Heller) 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
Romanow v. Heller, 121 Misc. 2d 886, 469 N.Y.S.2d 876, 1983 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 4022 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Leona Freedman, J.

The primary issue in this summary holdover proceeding is whether respondents’ apartment is exempt from the coverage of the Rent Stabilization Law (Administrative [887]*887Code of City of New York, § YY51-1.0 et seq.) under section 5 (subd a, par [5]) of the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 (L 1974, ch 576, § 4; ETPA). Section 5 (subd a, par [5]) provides that “housing accommodations in buildings completed or * * * substantially rehabilitated as family units on or after January first, nineteen hundred seventy-four” are exempt from rent stabilization.

The building is located at 1687 Third Avenue in the upper east side. It was originally constructed before 1901 and was classified as an old law tenement.1 It has also been classified as a class A multiple dwelling since at least 1957 when the second of three major renovations was completed. The first renovation in 1937 consisted of iron and steel work for structural support as well as masonry and carpentry. The layout of the building before and after the 1937 alteration was the same as it is today; eight residential units (two on each floor of the four-story structure) and one ground level storefront.2

In 1953 the building underwent a second major renovation, resulting in the conversion of the residential units on the street level into additional commercial space for the storefront. In 1972 or 1973 the final major renovation of the building began. The commercial space at the rear of the lot was converted back to residential units and the entire building, including the commercial space, was completely gutted and modernized. New bathroom and kitchen facilities, windows, and a brick facade front were installed and the plumbing, wiring and heating systems were replaced.3

Work was completed on the-second through fourth floors by October, 1973 when an application for a temporary certificate of occupancy was submitted by petitioner’s predecessor in interest. The temporary certificate of occupancy, certifying that the work complied with the building and fire code and the applicable zoning resolutions, was issued in January, 1974. When the work on the first floor was finished in May, 1974, a certificate of occupancy for the entire building was issued that same month.4

[888]*888Respondent tenants entered into possession pursuant to a written lease agreement for a three-year term, commencing June 1, 1980. In May, 1981, petitioner’s managing agent sent respondents a letter demanding additional moneys because “the landlord of a rent-stabilized apartment is entitled to an increase in the security deposit in order for it to equal one month’s rental”. The tenants complied. In January, 1983, petitioner landlord offered tenants an option to renew their lease for an additional one-, two- or three-year term consistent with the requirements of section 23 of the Code of the Rent Stabilization Association of New York City, Inc. (Rent Stabilization Code). The tenants elected a two-year term, but since the landlord was seeking an 89% rental increase, they refused to execute the renewal lease.5 Their lease expired in May, 1983. Petitioner then initiated this holdover proceeding in August, 1983, alleging for the first time that the apartment was not subject to rent stabilization as a result of renovations begun in 1973.

SUBSTANTIAL REHABILITATION DEFINED

The phrase “substantial rehabilitation as family units” is defined by looking at the building as a whole, not the work completed on a particular unit (Goodman v Ramirez, 100 Misc 2d 881 [Gammerman, J.]). The mere listing of sums expended does not in and of itself determine what is “substantial” since that “will vary according to the size and condition of the building” (Hickey v Bomark Fabrics, 111 Misc 2d 812, 816 [Taylor, J.]; 120 Misc 2d 597 [App Term, 1st Dept]). At the very least, (1) new family units should be added to the housing stock and should predominate over the number of pre-existing units (Hickey v Bomark Fabrics, supra, p 817; see, also, 120 Misc 2d, at p 599 [for example, by the conversion of a commercial or largely commercial structure into dwelling units]), or (2) the multiple dwelling status of a building should be upgraded (Goodman v Ramirez, supra). In Goodman, all the units in the entire building, except for one pre-existing class A unit, had been converted from class B dwelling units (designed primarily for transient or single-room oc[889]*889cupancy) to class A dwelling units (designed for permanent family residences). In Hickey, the building contained four class A units and seven class B units before renovation and after renovation it contained seven class A units. Since the building was essentially residential before the landlord began construction, the Appellate Term commented (p 599) that “to consolidate some class B dwelling units into class A dwelling units” was not enough to qualify for exemption from rent stabilization.

STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION

The ETPA is remedial legislation enacted under a declaration of emergency, which expands the protections and restrictions of the Rent Stabilization Law, as here, to multiple dwellings constructed before 1947.6 Although there is no definition of the term “substantially” or the phrase “substantially rehabilitated as family units”, under the rules of statutory construction they should be interpreted in light of the remedial purposes of the ETPA and the statutory scheme of the Rent Stabilization Law.7

First, the Stabilization Law (Administrative Code, § YY51-6.0, subd c, par [6], cl [b]) and section 41 of the Rent Stabilization Code provide that an owner is to be compensated on a dollar-for-dollar basis for any building-wide major capital improvement, which would appear to include many, if not all, of the improvements which petitioner has performed in the case at hand.8 As to expenditures for those improvements which do not fall within section 41, [890]*890“improvements in a particular dwelling unit other than a major capital improvement”, compensation eventually can be gained under section 20 (subd C, par [l]).9 To read section 5 (subd a, par [5]) of the ETPA as qualifying a building for exemption whenever major capital improvements or something less than major capital improvements are completed would render meaningless subdivision C of section 20 and section 41, which contemplate apartments remaining within the rent stabilization system. Section 5 (subd a, par [5]) must signify something more or different; either (1) the upgrading in the multiple dwelling status of a building as in Goodman (supra) or (2) the conversion of a commercial or largely commercial structure to multiple dwelling units as indicated by the Appellate Term in Hickey (supra). Such an interpretation of section 5 (subd a, par [5]) will encourage the expansion of the housing stock by the creation or addition, in a significant way, of permanent residences and is consistent with the remedial purposes of the ETPA, which was enacted because of an “acute shortage of housing accommodations”. (ETPA, § 2.)

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Bluebook (online)
121 Misc. 2d 886, 469 N.Y.S.2d 876, 1983 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 4022, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/romanow-v-heller-nycivct-1983.