Landlord Wins Ruling in Eviction Case
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A court ruling yesterday put a landlord a step closer to evicting nine rent-stabilized tenants from an East Village apartment. The tenants’ lawyer said the ruling could render rent stabilization’s supposed protections “useless.”
A Manhattan appeals court ruled that the landlord, Alistair Economakis, could try to recover the apartments in the five-story, 15-unit building on East 3rd Street in Housing Court for personal use.
Mr. Economackis has already begun renovating, and announced that he and his family would move in a matter of weeks.
“I am finally going to get my opportunity to go in front of a Housing Court judge and prove what I have always said I was going to do: that is, live in my building with my wife and children,” he said.
One tenant, David Pultz, said Economakis wanted to abuse the law that allows landlords to reclaim units for personal use. “For him to claim all 15 apartments for his wife and children is really beyond what the law intends,” Mr. Pultz said.
