Preserving Not Just A Home, But A Business

The tenant lived in a rent stabilized brownstone in the Upper West Side. The landlord claimed that he wanted to move his own family into the tenant’s apartment, after doing renovations that would consolidate four different apartments. The tenant had a successful home business with many clients in the neighborhood. Losing his apartment meant not only losing his home, but his livelihood.

Approach

We decided to file a discovery motion and bring the landlord into the office for a deposition in front of a court reporter. It appeared that the landlord did not have the capital necessary to perform the extensive renovations that he planned. Nevertheless, it was established that the landlord did have a need to relocate his family because it turned out that the landlord himself was getting evicted from the apartment that he was living in. As in many owner occupancy holdovers, the facts were unclear and it was impossible to predict who would prevail at trial.

Result

We obtained a settlement from the landlord in which the tenant agreed to transfer to another apartment within the building and keep his rent stabilized status. In addition, the landlord reimbursed the tenant for the legal fees he expended in the defense of the case. The tenant, having lost no money, not only saved his apartment but preserved his valuable home business in the neighborhood.