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Airbnb and Rent Stabilization: A Survey

By Jeffrey Turkel
October 02, 2017

Over the past several years, rent-stabilized tenants have turned to Airbnb and similar services to monetize their below-market leases and earn extra income. Landlords seeking to evict such tenants for profiteering have been largely successful. This article examines the state of “Airbnb” jurisprudence to date, focusing on the First Department's recent 3-2 decision in Goldstein v Lipetz (150 AD3d 562 [1st Dept 2017]).

The Equities

The theoretical underpinning of all profiteering cases was set forth over 30 years ago in a much-cited quotation from Continental Towers Ltd. Partnership v Freuman (128 Misc.2d 680, 680-81 [App. Term First Department 1985)]:

The integrity of the rent stabilization scheme is obviously undermined if tenants, who themselves are the beneficiaries of regulated rentals, are free to sublease their apartments at market levels and thereby collect the profits which are denied the main landlord.

* * *

This practice, which the Rent Stabilization Law was designed to prevent, is not to be condoned by permitting the tenant to remain after the fraud has been found out.

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