NEW YORK (AP) — New York City and state officials are urging the Court of Appeals to shield rent-stabilized leases in bankruptcy proceedings.
Lawyers for the state attorney general’s office and the city’s Law Department filed a joint brief in a case in which a landlord agreed in bankruptcy court to buy the rights to a 79-year-old woman’s lease.
The brief was filed this week. It says it’s important to ensure rent-stabilization rights are not treated as property to be disposed of by a bankruptcy trustee.
The tenant filed for bankruptcy protection from $23,000 in credit-card debt after her husband died. She’s lived in the same East Village apartment for about 50 years.
Oral arguments are set for Oct. 14.
