Tags: owner occupancy
Summary: Possession Denied to Landlord Where Evidence Indicated Owner Would Commercialize Unit
Decision: PDF file
Zandieh v. Polkosnik
Court: City Civil Court, Kings County
Judge: Judge Cheryl Gonzales
Docket Number: 87540/15
Case Digest Summary
Petitioners commenced the proceeding to recover possession of an apartment, alleging that Arash Zandieh, one of the building's owners, intended to use the apartment as his primary residence. Respondents filed an answer, asserting affirmative defenses of untimely notice of non-renewal, lack of specificity, lack of standing, retaliatory eviction, and bad faith. Petitioners testified that they had never sought to recover possession of an apartment for their own use, but that by living at the subject apartment, Arash would be able to better manage the family's various properties. Petitioners further claimed that they were not seeking to evict respondents in retaliation for their failure to cooperate with petitioner's conversion of the first floor to commercial space. The court noted that the RSC created a rebuttable presumption of retaliation if there was a notice to quit within six months of a good faith complaint. The court ruled that the evidence established that petitioners' true intent for the apartment was to convert it to commercial space, and that petitioners commenced harassing respondents when they refused a buyout offer by commencing a holdover proceeding for a non-violation of the lease.