Case Law Summaries

Quintela v. The Rent Control Board of The City of Bayonne

• Opinion Date: March 20, 2001
• Real Property Law
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LANDLORD-TENANT; RENT CONTROL—Where the right of a landlord to raise rent for a rent controlled apartment is based upon an ambiguous provision of the applicable ordinance, the landlord should apply for an advisory opinion from the control board or take the risk that the rent increase will be set aside.

A residential landlord invested more than 50% of the building’s worth in capital improvements, thus meeting the definition of a “substantially rehabilitated” dwelling under a municipal ordinance. It then applied for an exemption from rent control for the rehabilitation. At the same time, a tenant applied for a rent reduction. The rent-control board denied the landlord’s application and granted the tenant’s because of the landlord’s elimination of basement storage space in the dollar amount equal to the cost of renting similar storage space. The municipal council and the Law Division upheld the board’s action. The Appellate Division affirmed the denial of landlord’s exemption from rent control on the ground that although the specification of the ordinance was not clear, the board properly determined that the landlord’s property did not qualify for an exemption because it was occupied during the renovation period, and that the board’s decision was “informed by knowledge of local circumstances and combined with enforcement responsibility.” Furthermore, the landlord did not avail itself of the opportunity to seek an advisory opinion from the board on the availability of an exemption before undertaking the rehabilitative work. The Appellate Division reversed the decision with regard to the tenant’s right to a rent reduction in the dollar amount of comparable storage space, stating the board’s decision to reduce the below-market rent by the market replacement cost of the storage space was logically inconsistent.

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