Since the dawn of rent regulation, owners have been permitted to recover an occupied apartment for the personal use and occupancy of the owner or a member of the owner’s immediate family. Pursuant to the recently enacted Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act (HSTPA), the Legislature has sharply limited personal use evictions, and the courts are effectuating those changes.

History

Under rent control, an owner had to demonstrate that he or she required the apartment due to an “immediate and compelling necessity.” Thus, in Cupo v. McGoldrick, 278 App. Div. 108 (1st Dept. 1951), the owner was able to make such a showing by establishing that “‘she is unable to climb stairs and that she has been advised to move to a ground-floor apartment.’”