Apartment Used as Doctor's Office

Tenant claimed that her apartment was rent stabilized. She had rented it in 1977 as a doctor's office and filed a complaint with the DHCR over 20 years later. The apartment had been registered as exempt in 1984, and tenant never objected. The DRA ruled against tenant, and tenant appealed. Landlord claimed that tenant's complaint wasn't filed on time. The DHCR ruled against tenant. The four-year time limit on overcharge complaints doesn't apply to cases deciding an apartment's rent regulatory status. But since the apartment was rented under a lease for a doctor's office, was used as a doctor's office, and the building's C of O provided for professional use of the apartment, the apartment was exempt from rent stabilization. This was so, even if tenant also lived in the apartment. A prior appeals court decision in another case had made the same ruling.

Piasecki: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. OA420088RT (8/3/00) [4-pg. doc.]