Brooklyn Tenant Fights to Regain Home of 25 Years

August 2, 2011, Brooklyn, New York — A Brooklyn tenant has taken legal action against a landlord who drove her family to vacate their rent stabilized apartment by fraudulently relying on the “owner’s use” provision of New York’s rent stabilization law. Yolanda Cintron, represented by South Brooklyn Legal Services (a program of Legal Services NYC), is asking the Supreme Court to allow her to move back into her home of more than 25 years because the landlord, Abdullatif El-Taieb, failed to take possession of the apartment for any member of his family after claiming that Ms. Cintron was legally obligated to vacate the premises so that his son could move in.

Under New York law, a landlord cannot evict a rent
stabilized tenant except for cause, such as failure to pay rent, or violation
of the lease. An exception to that rule is the "owner's use" provision, which
provides that a landlord can evict a tenant if he or an immediate family member
seeks to use the unit as his or her primary residence. Tenant advocates often
see this loophole exploited by landlords seeking to get around the State's
affordable housing protections. 

In May 2006, Mr. El-Taieb told Ms. Cintron that she and her
family would have to leave the apartment, claiming that his son planned to move
in. When Ms. Cintron refused to leave, Mr. El-Taieb sued to evict her under the
"owner's use" exception. In January 2009, Ms. Cintron entered into a settlement
agreement to vacate her home based on Mr. El-Taieb's sworn statements that his
son was going to move into her apartment and her consequential belief that she
could not prevail under the "owner's use" provision.

Ms. Cintron vacated her apartment nearly two years ago.
Because her family could not secure alternative affordable housing within the
City, they now pay nearly $600 a month more for an apartment in New Jersey. To
this day, no member of Mr. El-Taieb's family has occupied the Brooklyn
apartment, despite the fact that the settlement agreement expressly states that
Ms. Cintron was agreeing to vacate based on Mr. El-Taieb's claim that his son
was to take possession. Incredibly, in an email to one of Ms. Cintron's former
neighbors, Mr. El-Taieb's son even claimed to be "baffled" by that tenant's
expectation that he would ever move into the building. Mr. El-Taieb's actions
are a clear violation of New York's affordable housing protections, and Ms.
Cintron is seeking a cancellation of the settlement agreement, restoration to the
apartment, and monetary damages.

"For too long building owners have abused the ‘owner's use'
provision of the Rent Stabilization Code, perverting what is supposed to be a
legitimate means of obtaining an apartment for themselves or their immediate
family, and instead using it to evict long-term, often low-income tenants,"
said South Brooklyn Legal Services Housing Unit Co-Director Michael Weisberg.
"Ms. Cintron is suing her former landlord so that she can move back into her
home after the fraud he perpetrated against her. But she also hopes that her
lawsuit will serve as a warning to other landlords that they cannot continue to
expect to lie to their tenants, and the court, and get away with it."

"I agreed to a settlement because I felt that I had no other
choice, that my landlord would win because the law allows him to take my
apartment for his son," said Ms. Cintron. "But now I know that he was just
saying that to make me give up my home. My family has had to move further away
from my husband's job, and our rent has more than doubled, all because he lied
to take advantage of us."