LOFTY EXPECTATIONS?

In South Eleventh St. Tenants Assn. v. Dov Land, LLC, a bunch of loft tenants were looking for rent-stabilized status.

Even though they were occupants of illegally converted apartments, the tenants asked the Kings County Supreme Court to afford them regulatory protection. When that request was denied, an appeal to the Appellate Division, Second Department, followed.

The AD2 found a statute -- known as the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 -- protects tenants of illegally converted units when "the owner acquiesced in the unlawful conversion, undertaken at the expense of the occupants, the premises were otherwise eligible for residential use ... and the owner ... actually sought to legalize the residential use."

Because the tenants' evidence suggested their situation fell into that "rare" exception, the AD2 reversed the case's dismissal and sent the matter back for a formal hearing.

How high do you think this case will go?

To download a copy of the Appellate Division's decision, please use this link: South Eleventh St. Tenants Assn. v. Dov Land, LLC