Apartment in Building Under HPD Regulatory Agreement Was Mistakenly Registered with DHCR

Tenant complained to the DHCR that landlord failed to offer her a renewal lease on the same terms and conditions as the expiring lease. The DRA terminated the proceeding, finding it had no jurisdiction because the apartment was owned by a non-profit corporation under the Private Housing Finance Law, was subject to a Regulatory Agreement, and received a 420-c tax exemption. Tenant appealed and lost. She claimed that the building was a rent-stabilized affordable housing complex. The 2015 Regulatory Agreement between landlord and HPD gave the owner the opportunity to exempt initial affordable housing units from rent stabilization after they became vacant. Since tenant didn't move into the unit until 2017, the record supported the DRA's findings. The fact that landlord registered the apartment as rent stabilized in the annual apartment registrations in 2019 and 2020 and offered rent-stabilized renewal leases didn't confer rent-stabilized status on the exempt unit. 

Matthews: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. MM410025RT (6/10/24)[2-pg. document]