Currently, an owner of a residential building subject to rent regulation, may recover one or more of the occupied units within the dwelling for his/her own use -- or that of an immediate family member -- if certain legal requirements are met.*
A question addressed by the Appellate Term, First Department, is whether a new owner can pursue a former landlord's "owner's use" case.
In 2003, William Hall started a holdover proceeding in the New York County Civil Court to recover a rent-stabilized apartment for his son, Timothy and Timothy's family. In March 2004, while that case was pending, William passed away. Several months later, in June 2004, title to the building was transferred to new (unidentified) owners.
For some unknown reason, the new landlords sought to pursue the former owner's case. Of course, that strategy wouldn't have made sense for anyone other than William's surviving son, Timothy. (Why would a new owner try to recover a regulated unit for someone else's family, particularly when that option isn't authorized by the governing regulations?)
Whatever the rationale was for maintaining the case, the Appellate Term wasn't biting. In a tersely worded decision the court concluded that the "owner's use" claim was extinguished upon William's death.
Casting aside some procedural issues (which also didn't help the case), the court observed as follows:
We note that were the possessory issues litigated below properly before us, we would find that the owner occupancy claim initially advanced by petitioner on behalf of his son is not maintainable by the current owners, who took title to the building premises in or about June 2004 ....
Undeniably, this is not a case in how to succeed.
For a copy of the Appellate Term's decision, please use this link: Hall v. Geary
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*For our other posts on this topic, please use this link: Owner's Use