After 20+ years want to stay where I am.

[claire78]

I have lived in the one bedroom rent stabilized apartment for over 20 years. The building has 6 apartments, and is in one of the most desirable areas of manhattan. After the unexpected death of the landlord the building is currently part of an estate. There have been several indication that the building will be put up for sale by the heirs. Half the apartments in the building are empty. After the last tenants left several years ago they were not rented out. This goes back while the landlord was still alive. He did not want to sell the building, he just did no care if all the apartments were rented out.

1. My 2 year lease is up next year. I love the apartment and the neighborhood, I do not want to move. This is my home. Can the current landlord claim occupancy by family if I currently pay my rent to an estate? If I understand correctly this is only possible if the house is registered in an individual name. Can it be done if the building has several individual owners, but it is not an entity? I know they want to sell and want to get the current tenants out so that the building can be sold without tenants. The brownstones in the area are sold for 10-15 million dollars and converted to one family homes. No one will buy the building with the tenants in it.
Once the estate issues are resolved I expect the bad news. It is only a matter of time.

2. I am in my late 50', want to retire in a few years and continue living in manhattan, Considering the current state of the rental market in NYC it would be impossible to find a comparable apartment in the same neighborhood for less then close to twice the current rent. ( I pay low $2,000). I did some research.
I am not interested in a buyout. It would not be a long term solution.

Is there anything I can do to stay in the apartment?

[TenantNet]

I'm not positive if the estate can claim owner occupanyc or not, but I doubt it. As you might know, owner occupancy cannot be claimed if the owner is a corporation. The building would half to be owned by a person. I suspect the same rationale would apply to estates.

An estate is a legal fiction to describe the assets and liabilities of the deceased. An executor of an estate can occupy the apartment of a deceased tenant, at least until the end of the current lease. But I don't think an executor can claim owner occupancy. There might be some cases on this point, but I haven't seen any.

You should join with the remaining tenants and form a tenant association that will meet any threat head-on. Of course they will want to empty the building as it would be worth more in a sale. But you and the other tenants have rights. You might want to collectively get a legal consultation so you can be prepared of what might be coming.

[claire78]

The owner is legally obligated to offer a new lease to the rent stabilized tenants no later than 90 days prior to the expiration of the lease. What happens if I do not get a new lease offer by the deadline?
- I read somewhere that you are than automatically entitled to the lease for the new term in that case. Is that correct?
- if they decide not to offer a new lease because of say occupation by a family, how much time before the lease expires are they supposed to let you know?
The concern I hear from other people in the same situation is that if you do not accept a buyout offer you will lose the apartment and get nothing. Yes, you do have rights, but how often do the tenants win?

[TenantNet]

If you don't get a renewal lease, first ask the LL. Then you can file a complaint with DHCR. And, if you don't get one, your rent does not go up.

The "automatic' was called "deemed renewal" and was not always beneficial to tenants. The practice was disallowed by the courts. Remember though, even if you don't have a renewal lease, you are still protected by all the RS laws.

Now remember, at this point you're dealing with speculation, so don't get to far into it. I won't speculate with you.

To claim owner occupancy, they have to send you a Golub Notice (look it up).

[claire78]

more indications of wanting to sell the building.
to summarize, The building in question is in NYC. The remaining tenants are rent stabilized. The landlord lived in the building until his death. but the estate is now going through probate in a different state where the landlord had a house, but he did not live in. He lived in NY city in the building.
question:
do issues relating to the building and to us tenants have to be resolved in NY city housing court, since the building is in NY city and our rent stabilized status relates to NY city rent stabilized laws?
in other words, can the fate of the building and non renewal of out leases be decided as part of the estate in another state insted of getting it resolved after the probate or during probate in NY city housing court because we the tenants are subject to the laws and protection of NY city rent stabilized laws?
thank you.

[TenantNet]

Must issues be in Housing Court? Not necessarily. They can go to DHCR, or to Civil Court or SUpreme Court. Issues relating to the estate are a different matter, and we don't know much about estate law. But issues to your tenancy - in my opinion - need to be resolved in NY.

However, I would not say that's an absolute. For example, Federal Court might trump state court.

However, right now you're just speculating in a broad way. You have to deal with specifics as they come up. The estate of course can sell the building. That does not mean tenants will lose their apartments.

Yes, it might mean that a new owner might try for owner occupancy. The operative word is "might."

[BubbaJoe123]

Until the estate is resolved, nothing's going to happen. Since your lease isn't up until next year, certainly nothing's going to happen for some time.

IF the building ends up in the hands of an individual (i.e. the prior owner's child, or whatever), the new owner COULD go for owner occupancy. Now, that's going to depend on a lot of things, such as whether the new owner does and/or wants to live in NYC, and wants to convert the building back to a single family home.

IF the new owner does want to go for a conversion using owner occupancy as his tool, then that process will take place in NYC.

The out of state court that's probating the owner's estate just handles disposing of the estate (i.e. who will now own the building). Once that's done, any questions on the future status of the building are NYC matters.

[TenantNet]

Except there are instances where Federal courts could trump local courts.

[BubbaJoe123]

True. Let me rephrase then:

"Once that's done, any questions on the future of the building will initially be NYC matters, and very likely remain that way."

[claire78]

If the landlord decides to sell the building with the RS tenants in it, are there any RS regulations as far as the landlord showing the building? Can he with the potential buyers request access to my and other tenants apartment while we still have a RS lease? If he decides to not renew our lease, but we do not want to leave, can he show the building and most importantly request access to our apartments to show to potential building buyers? This is a real concern. I want to be present if this is unavoidable. I do not want strangers trotting through nap my apartment. This type or request for access does not qualify as emergency, repair or showing to new tenant (mentioned under RS rules) since we do not want to give up our apartment.
Thank you.

[TenantNet]

Without reading all the prior posts ... if the building is sold, you should generally retain all your RS rights. There are access rules - see the forum's reference section. In general, they can't just waltz in. They must make requests for access, ahead of time, in writing, and specify why the access if needed. All this is detailed in the access thread in the reference section. They can request access for general "inspection."

We have found some LL's will try to walk all over tenants, and you must push back. If they have keys, I would change the locks. You can make certain demands, but both sides need to be reasonable. Yes, you can demand that you be present, and you can set the day/time, although that is really more of a negotiation, so I would give them a few alternatives.

In general you would have lease renewal rights, although there are exceptions, and you can fight those.

[claire78]

The landlord has no keys and this has not been an issue in 20+ years. How many times can a landlord request a "general inspection" ? Sounds odd to show an apartment that in fact is not available, since there is a rent stabilized tenant living in it, who has a right for rent renewal and wants to remain in the apartment.

[TenantNet]

I'm not aware of how many times they can ask for general inspection, but since it's not being shown to prospective tenants, I would say once is enough, at least once per year. I don't think there are hard and fast rules on that. Depending on how many units in the building, most purshasers of entire buildings are probably not going to want to see each and every apartment. But, OTOH, the current owner will probably want to get an assessment as to the condition of each unit.

Remember they have to tell you why they want access -- and that determines how far in advance the request need be made. So if they say it's for a prospective tenant, I would deny them access for that. Of course, if you deny, they can take you to court for that. But there's often a bit of a dance before it gets to that.

At this point you're just speculating. So don't get too bogged down in this.

[rentstubq]

I would start by asking them to request access to your apartment in writing. That way you have a paper trail of them coming in. That alone might get them to lay off.

[claire78]

Thanks for all the info. Very helpful.