Case Reopened Due to Post Office Error

Landlord applied for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant's apartment in 2007. The DRA sent tenant a notice of landlord's application by first-class priority mail with United States Postal Service Delivery Confirmation. Tenant answered the notice and claimed that his household income was below the deregulation threshold for both 2005 and 2006. But the DRA denied landlord's application based on a Post Office notification that tenant had moved from the apartment and left no forwarding address. Landlord appealed, claiming that tenant still lived in the apartment with his wife. Landlord showed that tenant had signed a recent renewal lease and still paid rent. The DHCR ruled for landlord and reopened the case. The DRA must determine if tenant lived in the apartment and resend the correspondence that was returned as undeliverable by the Post Office.

Rivergate L.P.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. WG410011RO (11/3/08) [2-pg. doc.]