| Matter of Bikman v New York City Loft Bd. |
| 2008 NY Slip Op 10220 [57 AD3d 448] |
| December 30, 2008 |
| Appellate Division, First Department |
| In the Matter of Charla Bikman, Respondent, v New YorkCity Loft Board, Appellant. |
—[*1] Charla Bikman, respondent pro se.
Order and judgment (one paper), Supreme Court, New York County (Emily J. Goodman, J.),entered May 11, 2007, inter alia, granting the petition to annul respondent's determination, datedJanuary 9, 2003, which granted the owner's abandonment application and denied petitioner'sapplication for reimbursement of the fixtures installed and improvements made in the subject loftby petitioner's decedent, and remanding the matter for an appraisal of the fixtures andimprovements, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
Loft Board order No. 3049 denied petitioner's reconsideration application. Loft Board orderNo. 2770 is the underlying order. Therefore, order No. 2770 is "the final agency determinationfrom which judicial review may be sought" (see 29 RCNY 1-07 [d] [ii]).
Contrary to the Administrative Law Judge's determination, which was adopted byrespondent, the estate of a loft tenant is entitled to the value of improvements installed by thetenant (see Matter of Moskowitz vJorden, 27 AD3d 305, 306 [2006], lv dismissed 7 NY3d 783 [2006]). Thus,respondent's grant of the owner's abandonment application without requiring a sale of theimprovements and compensation therefor to the estate was affected by an error of law (CPLR7803 [3]). Respondent's argument that petitioner waived any right to compensation for the valueof the improvements because she never asserted this claim before surrendering the unit in 2001 isnot properly before this Court (see Matter of Trump-Equitable Fifth Ave. Co. vGliedman, 57 NY2d 588, 593 [1982]). In any event, the estate did not waive its rights to theunit, [*2]because petitioner surrendered the unit in her individualcapacity following Housing Court litigation to which the estate was not a party.Concur—Tom, J.P., Friedman, Gonzalez, McGuire and Acosta, JJ. [See 2007 NYSlip Op 30541(U).]