Personal Use Occupancy Eviction

Your landlord wants to live in your rent regulated apartment.

IF THE APARTMENT IS RENT CONTROLLED

If you have lived in your rent controlled apartment for 20 years you are protected from this nature of eviction. If you are not in your apartment for 20 years the landlord may be able to evict you but the burden of the landlord in bringing such proceeding is walking up a very large hill as the rent controlled tenant has the following substantial protections:
(a) This proceeding must initially be instituted before the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) where the tenant is entitled to a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ)
(b) The burden of the landlord at this hearing is to demonstrate a clear and convincing necessity to recover your apartment. At the hearing the ALJ examines all evidence and makes findings to the Rent Administrator who then renders a decision reflective of the ALJ’s factual findings and then issues an order.
(c) Suppose the Rent Administrator rules against the tenant. The tenant then has a right to file a Petition for Administrative Review in which the Commissioner will examine all the proceedings below and render a determination. Even though the tenant may lose at this final stage the tenant can then proceed on what is called an Article 78 proceeding which will review the entire administrative proceeding.
Of course, if at any stage of the DHCR proceeding the tenant wins before the DHCR on any factual finding while the landlord can also appeal in the manner outlined for the tenant, in practical terms the landlord’s chances become almost impossible.
Two observations I will now make:
(a) It is preferable for the tenant to be represented by a lawyer, but it is not vital especially at the ALJ stage.

(b) Proceeding before DHCR and judicial review can take years.

It is only if the landlord at the end of this process obtains from DHCR a certificate of eviction that the landlord can first institute Landlord Tenant proceedings.

Note:If at any time before the landlord can obtain a final judgment of possession the tenant or his spouse reaches 62 years of age, the tenant obtains an added protection in that even if the landlord can win the proceeding the landlord would have to relocate the tenant to an apartment at the same rent in the same neighborhood which most landlords will not have the ability to comply with.
Further, the same protection and procedure applies where you or your spouse is disabled.

Note:If rent controlled or rent stabilized outside of the City, pursuant to the EPTA, the twenty-year rule which has been described above applies and the landlord cannot maintain such proceeding against such regulated tenant.
Outside the City the same rules apply as in the City to both rent stabilized and rent controlled as to age and disability apply.

IF THE APARTMENT IS RENT STABILIZED IN THE CITY OF NY.

Here, if the landlord wants your apartment, while there are ways to fight, the rules all favor the landlord:
(a) The forum where this case will be tried is Landlord-Tenant (Housing) Court.

(b) The landlord does not have to prove a clear and compelling necessity. The landlord in this friendly forum only has to prove the nebulous standard called “good faith.”

In this nature of proceeding you have no chance without a lawyer and you must consult one as soon as you receive the non-renewal notice.

Robert A. Katz
Counsel to Queens League of United Tenants