Default Formula Applied to Set Base Date Rent Where No Rent History Records Supplied

In 2017, the DHCR's Rent Administrator opened a rent overcharge proceeding upon referral from the agency's Tenant Protection Unit (TPU). In June 2021, the DRA requested from landlord complete rent history records, including leases and rent ledgers going back to the December 2013 base rent date. In November 2021, the DRA sent landlord a Final Notice to Owner -- Imposition of Treble Damages based on landlord's failure to provide proof of the base date rent. In June 2024, the DRA sent landlord another notice to provide the requested proof of rent history. The DRA then ruled for tenant, setting the base date rent by applying the default formula option that applied from DHCR rent registration records the lowest stabilized rent for the same-sized apartment in the building. That rent amount of $706 per month became the base date rent, and was frozen pending the filing of amended rent registrations. However, since there was no proof of any rent payments from tenant, the DRA made no overcharge finding. 

Landlord appealed, claiming that the DRA failed to credit landlord for a rent increase based on individual apartment improvements (IAIs). But landlord had submitted no proof of the base date rent, the statutory default formula was properly applied, resulting in a rent freeze. Under the rent freeze, the addition of rent increases for vacancies, IAIs, or RGB guideline increases subsequent to the rent freeze date weren't permitted. 

181 Norman Avenue, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. MT210027RO (1/14/25)[2-pg. document]