Case Type

Holdover-Lease Expiration

Housing Type

Rent Stabilized

Court

Civil Court of the City of New York

County

Queens County (Queens)

L&T / Index / Case / Docket / Clerk's Number

L&T 61972/19

Slip Opinion Number

2024 NY Slip Op 24279

Petitioner

Hillside Place, LLC

Respondent

MD Mustafezur Rahman, Naz Islam, John Doe, Jane Doe, Al Mahedi Mashud

Judge

Guthrie, Clinton J.

Decision/Order Date

2024-10-28

Posture

Other

Disposition

Judgment for Landlord

Winner

Landlord Substantially Won

Synopsis

In this holdover proceeding, the landlord claimed that the tenant failed to renew a rent-stabilized lease at the legal rent. The court held that the landlord established the renewal offer compliant with the Rent Stabilization Code, while the tenant's claims about prior rents were dismissed due to the Regina ruling limiting review of historical rents absent fraud. The court issued a final judgment of possession for the landlord but allowed a 30-day cure period for the tenant to sign the lease, and it denied a monetary judgment for use and occupancy due to prior payment. From the tenant's attorney: "In relying on Regina to refuse to apply HSTPA’s “last reliable registration” provision to determine the current lawful rent, the Court ignored Respondent’s arguments that the Regina decision expressly only addressed the “narrow” issue of expanding overcharge damages liability retroactively years after the fact; expressly did not address the remainder of HSTPA Part F; and actually acknowledged that (unlike expanding overcharge liability) returning units to stabilization and “ensuring the propriety of rents going forward” (i.e., by using the last reliable registration standard to eliminate past unlawful increases embedded in the current rent) are legitimate legislative purposes, and that unlike retroactively expanding overcharge damages liability, owners have no settled expectations about future rents given the volatility of rent regulation."

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