In a decision that has rocked the world of New York residential real estate, Roberts v. Tishman Speyer Properties, LP, et al.,1 the Court of Appeals recently held that thousands of unregulated “market” apartments at two Manhattan building complexes, Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, were unlawfully removed from rent stabilization while the owners, Tishman Speyer and MetLife,2 (defendants) received benefits under the city’s “J-51″ tax abatement and exemption program.3
The ruling affects all of the 11,200 tenants at the complexes, including the tenants and former tenants of the approximately 3,000 apartments that had been unlawfully deregulated. Tens of thousands of additional tenants could be affected city-wide. (The authors’ firm submitted an amicus curiae brief in Roberts on behalf of the New York State Tenants and Neighbors Coalition, Inc. and Met Council, Inc. and represents Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village tenants in various matters.)
