N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. tit. 9, § 2524.4
(5) The failure of the owner to utilize the housing accommodation for the purpose intended after the tenant vacates, or to continue in occupancy for a period of three years, may result in a forfeiture of the right to any increases in the legal regulated rent in the building in which such housing accommodation is contained for a period of three years, unless the owner offers and the tenant accepts reoccupancy of such housing accommodation on the same terms and conditions as existed at the time the tenant vacated, or the owner establishes to the satisfaction of the DHCR that circumstances changed after the tenant vacated which prevented the owner from utilizing the housing accommodation for the purpose intended, and in such event, the housing accommodation may be rented at the appropriate guidelines without a vacancy allowance. This paragraph shall not eliminate or create any claim that the former tenant of the housing accommodation may or may not have against the owner.
(b) Recovery by a not-for-profit institution.
(1) The owner is a hospital, convent, monas tery, asylum, public institution, college, school dormitory, or any institution operated exclu sively for charitable or educational purposes on a nonprofit basis, and the owner, upon notice to the tenant in accordance with section 2524.2(c)(4) of this Part, requires the housing accommodation for its own use in connection with its charitable or educational purposes, and either:
(3) If an owner who recovers a housing accommodation pursuant to this subdivision, or any successor in interest, within four years after recovery of the housing accommodation from the tenant, utilizes such housing accommodation for purposes other than those permitted hereunder without good cause, then such owner or successor shall be liable to the removed tenant for three times the damages sustained on account of such removal, plus reasonable attorney's fees and costs as determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, provided that such tenant commences an action to recover such damages within three years from the date of recovery of the housing accommodation. The damages sustained by such tenant shall be the difference between the rent paid by such tenant for the recovered housing accommodation, and the rental value of a comparable rent-regulated housing accommodation, plus the reasonable costs of the removal of the tenant's property.
(c) Primary residence.
The housing accommodation is not occupied by the tenant, not including subtenants or occupants, as his or her primary residence, as determined by a court of competent jurisdiction; provided, however, that no action or proceeding shall be commenced seeking to recover possession on the ground that the housing accommodation is not occupied by the tenant as his or her primary residence unless the owner or lessor shall have given 30 days' notice to the tenant of his or her intention to commence such action or proceeding on such grounds. Such notice may be combined with the notice required by section 2524.2(c)(2) of this Title.
The owner shall not be required to offer a renewal lease to a tenant, or in hotels, to continue a hotel tenancy, and may commence an action or proceeding to recover possession in a court of competent jurisdiction, upon the expiration of the existing lease term, if any, after serving the tenant with a notice as required pursuant to section 2524.2 of this Part, only on one or more of the following grounds:
(a) Occupancy by owner or member of owner's immediate family.