BAD NEWS FOR LOFT DWELLERS
NY POST,
June 9, 2004 --
ALBANY — Tenants who illegally converted commercial space into loft apartments after 1981 are not covered by rent-protection laws, New York's highest court ruled yesterday.
In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals found that the 1982 loft law covered only those who created illegal residential units through 1981.
It was not immediately clear how many lofts were converted after 1981.
The case stems from a group of tenants who had leased a building on Grand Street in Manhattan in 1997 and then illegally converted the commercial space from the second floor up into residential lofts. Kenneth Lovett