Gratz v. Century Apartment Associates

OPINION OF THE COURT

David B. Saxe, J.

De Kovessey v Coronet Props. (69 NY2d 448 [1987]) declared that when a rent-controlled tenant dies during the effective *424period of a cooperative conversion plan, the tenant’s estate is not entitled to purchase the shares allocated to the tenant’s apartment at the insider price. Presented here is the question of whether an estate has the right to purchase where the decedent was a rent-stabilized tenant with a written lease, if the tenant dies during the plan’s effective period, after signing a no-buy pledge.

The facts, which are not disputed, are as follows:…