On April 28, 2015, the Appellate Division, First Department handed down a decision in the case of Altman v. 285 W. Fourth. In the area of rent regulation—in particular high rent luxury deregulation—Altman was explosive. The decision appeared to have dramatically altered the landscape of high rent luxury deregulation as it existed prior to the Rent Act of 2015.1 In essence Altman was a decision that eliminated post-vacancy deregulation (deregulating an apartment after it became vacant by lawfully raising the rent above the deregulation threshold).
Now, as result of a string of decisions rendered in the past several months (and in particular three decisions rendered by the Appellate Division, First Department, itself in the last month), the Altman doctrine appears to be in transition.
