Q. When a tenant living in a rent-stabilized apartment rents a parking space in the building’s garage, is the garage rent subject to stabilization too?
A. David A. Kaminsky, a Manhattan landlord-tenant lawyer, said a parking space in the garage of a rent-stabilized building is an “ancillary service” that may be provided pursuant to the lease for the apartment or pursuant to a separate rental agreement.
Whether the garage rent is subject to stabilization is typically influenced by three factors: whether there is a separate charge for the apartment and for the space; whether the owner of the building became subject to regulation; and whether the building and garage are owned and operated, directly or indirectly, by the same person or company.
If the building owner was providing the space when the building became subject to regulation, and the rent for the space was included in the lease, Mr. Kaminskysaid, then the charge for the space is probably subject to stabilization.
On the other hand, he said, if there were initially separate leases for the space and for the apartment, and the building and garage are or were owned or operated by different companies — whether at the time the building became subject to regulation or afterward — then the parking space would probably not be subject to rent stabilization.