§ 285. Owner protection. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section three hundred two or three hundred twenty-five of this chapter, the owner of an interim multiple dwelling may recover rent payable from residential occupants qualified for the protection of this article on or after April first, nineteen hundred eighty, and maintain an action or proceeding for possession of such premises for non-payment of rent, provided that he is in compliance with this article.

2. Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, an owner may apply to the loft board for exemption of a building or portion thereof from this article on the basis that compliance with this article in obtaining a legal residential certificate of occupancy would cause an unjustifiable hardship either because: (i) it would cause an unreasonably adverse impact on a non-residential conforming use tenant within the building or (ii) the cost of compliance renders legal residential conversion infeasible. Residential and other tenants shall be given not less than sixty days notice in advance of the hearing date for such application. If the loft board approves such application, the building or portion thereof shall be exempt from this article, and may be converted to non-residential conforming uses, provided, however, that the owner shall, as a condition of approval of such application, agree to file an irrevocable recorded covenant in form satisfactory to the loft board enforceable for fifteen years by the municipality, that the building will not be re-converted to residential uses during such time. The standard for granting such hardship application for a building or portion thereof shall be as follows: (a) the loft board shall only grant the minimum relief necessary to relieve any alleged hardship with the understanding if compliance is reasonably possible it should be achieved even if it requires alteration of units, relocation of tenants to vacant space within the building, re-design of space or application for a non-use-related variance, special permit, minor modification or administrative certification; (b) self-created hardship shall not be allowed; (c) the test for cost infeasibility shall be that of a reasonable return on the owner's investment not maximum return on investment; (d) the test for unreasonably adverse impact on a non-residential conforming use tenant shall be whether residential conversion would necessitate displacement. Such hardship applications shall be submitted to the loft board within nine months of the establishment of the loft board (or, in the case of interim multiple dwellings referred to in subdivision four of section two hundred eighty-one of this article, within nine months of July twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred eighty-seven or in the case of interim multiple dwellings made subject to this article by subdivision five of section two hundred eighty-one of this article, within nine months of the effective date of such subdivision five, or, for units that became subject to this article pursuant to the chapter of the laws of two thousand thirteen which amended this paragraph, within nine months of the promulgation of all necessary rules and regulations pursuant to section two hundred eighty-two-a of this article, but shall not be considered, absent a waiver by the loft board, unless the owner has also filed an alteration application. In determination of any such hardship application, the loft board may demand such information as it deems necessary. In approving any such hardship application, the loft board may fix reasonable terms and conditions for the vacating of residential occupancy.

3. An owner of an interim multiple dwelling shall be exempt from paying a conversion contribution required by the zoning resolution of the city of New York for that portion of any building or structure determined by the loft board to be an interim multiple dwelling.