Apartment Was Temporarily Exempt on Base Rent Date

Rent-stabilized tenant filed a rent overcharge complaint in January 2009. Landlord claimed that the building super lived in the apartment on the base rent date and that it properly charged tenant a first rent in July 2007 when tenant moved in. The DRA ruled against tenant, finding no overcharge. Tenant appealed and lost. Rent registration records showed that a prior tenant paid $562 per month in April 2002. From 2003 through 2005, the apartment was registered as temporarily exempt for employee occupancy. In 2006, the apartment was registered as vacant with the rent listed as $655. In 2007, the apartment was registered as vacant with the rent listed as $1,350. Tenant moved into the apartment in July 2007 at a monthly rent of $1,350. The absence of a tenant's name or lease term on the 2007 and 2008 registrations, along with landlord's statement and utility company documents, sufficiently proved that the apartment was vacant between the dates that the super moved out and tenant moved in. So tenant's rent was the legal rent, and there was no overcharge.

Moustafa: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. YC210089RT (3/2/11) [2-pg. doc.]