Opinion
October 19, 1998
Ordered that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, with costs payable out of the estate, and the matter is remitted to the Surrogate's Court, Kings County, for a determination of the aforementioned branch of the plaintiff's motion on the merits.
The Surrogate improperly held that the plaintiff was required to exhaust his administrative remedies before he could commence the present action ( see, McKinney's Uncons Laws of N Y § 8632 [a] [1] [f] [Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 § 12 (a) (1) (f) (L 1974, ch. 576 § 4, as amended)]; Crimmins v. Handler Co., 249 A.D.2d 89; Cvetichanin v. Trapezoid Land Co., 180 A.D.2d 503; Smitten v. 56 MacDougal St. Co., 167 A.D.2d 205). Thus, the matter must be remitted for a determination on the merits of that branch of the plaintiff's motion which was for summary judgment.
O'Brien, J. P., Sullivan, Pizzuto and Florio, JJ., concur.