Aras v. B-U Realty Corp., 2023 NY Slip Op 04917 (2023)

Citation: Aras v. B-U Realty Corp., 2023 NY Slip Op 04917 (2023)
Parent Document: Aras v. B-U Realty Corp., 2023 NY Slip Op 04917 (2023)
Jurisdiction: New York (state)
Effective Date: 2023-10-03
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/9430365/aras-v-b-u-realty-corp/ ↗

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As a threshold matter, the base date for all plaintiffs is November 18, 2010, four years before the filing of the original complaint on November 18, 2014. Prior to the enactment of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA) (L 2019 ch 36), CPLR 213-a and RSL 26-516(a)(2) provided for a strict "lookback" period, permitting recovery of rent overcharges four years prior to the filing of a tenant's complaint. Defendants here, however, were on notice of plaintiffs' claims before this action was commenced — specifically, since at least August 14, 2014, when the Tenant Protection Unit of DHCR informed them that every apartment in the building was subject to rent stabilization by virtue of defendants' receipt of J51 benefits from 2005 through 2019. Thus, plaintiffs Arnot, Barish-Straus, and Lederer, who joined the action in the amended complaint, are entitled to application of the relation-back doctrine (CPLR 203[f]; see Matter of Century Tower Assoc. v State of N.Y. Div. of Hous. & Community Renewal, 83 NY2d 819, 822 [1994]; cf. Thornton v Baron, 5 NY3d 175, 180 n2 [2005] [rejecting [*3]relation-back doctrine as applied to new defendant where "defendants were not united in interest within the meaning of CPLR 203(b)"]).

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