Overview
- The case was adjourned in April and remains open with the occupant continuing to live in the Park Slope unit while a judge prepares to decide the apartment’s legal rent and any damages.
- Tenant advocates say a judge already found the apartment was improperly removed from rent stabilization and that the tenant has placed disputed rent into escrow pending the final ruling.
- Landlord Thomas Diana says interim use-and-occupancy payments ended years ago and he now estimates $275,000 to $325,000 in unpaid rent plus legal fees, which he says has caused severe personal financial strain.
- Both sides contest facts: Diana says regulators guided his earlier deregulation and that a court found no fraud by him, while tenant counsel says Diana improperly destabilized the unit and seeks only the legal rent.
- The saga, now nearing its 10th year, highlights how New York housing-court procedures such as repeated adjournments, frequent lawyer changes, and interim payment rules can prolong resolution and strain owners and occupants alike.