Owner Occupancy Eviction Case or Filing DHCR Form RA-54?

If the owner of a multi-family building with some rent-stabilized tenants wants to empty the building of tenants and use the whole building for the occupancy of his/her family, that owner is entitled to do so (subject to various requirements and limitations). Likewise if a building owner wants to demolish a building with rent-stabilized tenants and construct one in its place that is at least 20% larger, he or she has the ability to file a form RA-54 with the DHCR and after a hearing is done and various requirements met, the DHCR may allow that owner to go to court to evict the tenants (or negotiate as the case may be). The DHCR apparently even has set reimbursement numbers which replace huge buyout figures. If there is an owner that actually wants to demolish his/her current building, enlarge it by 20% or more and then live in it with/his/her family, it seems the owner could choose either of the above two methods. The question is, which route would be quicker and/or less expensive and/or more likely to have a positive outcome? To be honest I’d never even heard of the DHCR RA-54 option until today. Finally, are there attorneys that specialize in demolition cases? If so, any recommendations?

huesos

in General Discussion 11 years and 10 months ago

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JoeBushwick | 11 years and 10 months ago

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Interestingly, because of Economakis, the NYS Assembly is trying to change the rules to limit and owner to taking only one apartment. I think the only thing keeping this from happening is the Republicans in the NYS Senant.

huesos | 11 years and 10 months ago

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JB, you said:

> If you’ve ever been to housing court you would know that the law is only half the issue. A sympathetic tenant (i.e. elderly, impoverished) will be given every option to stay in the apartment. If you and your lawyer are incredibly persistent, and you can afford to spend many thousands of dollars in legal fees and many hours sitting waiting in housing court you may ultimately evict the tenant. This process can take years.

You’re 100% correct on all counts. On a local level, the courts are a crapshoot. However when the case is appealed, the higher courts tend to follow the law, not their ‘feelings’. There was the fairly recent Economakis case that took many years and involved many tenants as well as public demonstrations and hugely negative press but I believe in the end the Economakis family were allowed to evict the tenants for owner occupancy.

huesos | 11 years and 10 months ago

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Fromm the DHCR website: Additional rules apply to senior citizens and disabled persons concerning evictions based on owner occupancy: An owner cannot evict a tenant from a rent stabilized apartment in NYC if the tenant or the spouse of the tenant is a senior citizen, 62 years or older, or is a disabled person **unless the owner provides an equivalent or superior apartment at the same or lower rent in a nearby area.**

JoeBushwick | 11 years and 10 months ago

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Just checked DHCR website. If the tenant is 62 years old or older, the owner has no right to evict for his own occupancy.

JoeBushwick | 11 years and 10 months ago

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If you’ve ever been to housing court you would know that the law is only half the issue. A sympathetic tenant (i.e. elderly, impoverished) will be given every option to stay in the apartment. If you and your lawyer are incredibly persistent, and you can afford to spend many thousands of dollars in legal fees and many hours sitting waiting in housing court you may ultimately evict the tenant. This process can take years.

huesos | 11 years and 10 months ago

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Let’s be clear that neither the courts nor the DHCR is going to be “sympathetic”, but that’s why we have laws so judges and administrators don’t decide based on emotions, impressions, prejudice and politics. As such, the questions remains which route is “quicker and/or less expensive and/or more likely to have a positive outcome”?

JoeBushwick | 11 years and 10 months ago

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The biggest cost you will encounter is time. DHCR has provisions for this sort of evictions but the courts will not be particularly sympathetic to a wealthy owner trying to evict long term tenants. This is especially true it the tenant is elderly.

heightsguy | 11 years and 10 months ago

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One of the attorneys for this type of work is Belkin, Burden, Wenig and Goldman ( www.BBWG.com ) They have good newsletters on their website. The question is whether it would make sense financially.