Apartment Not Covered

Tenant complained of a rent overcharge, claiming that she was rent controlled. The DRA ruled against tenant based on tenant's failure to object to landlord's registration of the apartment 17 years earlier as rent stabilized. Tenant appealed. The DHCR ruled against tenant but for a different reason. Tenant's unit was never registered as rent controlled in 1943, indicating that it wasn't used for housing at that time. In 1950, the rent agency ruled that the unit wasn't rent controlled. The unit was converted to a housing accommodation by at least 1965, when tenant moved in. But rent control regulations state that an apartment created by a change from nonhousing use to housing use on or after Feb. 1, 1947, isn't subject to rent control. So tenant's apartment was rent stabilized, not rent controlled.

Paramythiotis: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. PD410003RP (5/31/01) [2-pg. doc.]