Deregulation Case Pending Until Tenant Files Late Tax Returns

(Decision submitted by Terry L. Hazen of the Manhattan law firm of Mitofsky Shapiro Neville & Hazen, LLP, attorneys for the landlord.) Landlord filed a high-rent/high-income deregulation application for tenant's apartment in 1999. Tenant claimed that his income was under the $175,000 threshold for 1997 but that he hadn't yet filed tax returns for 1998. No tax match could be found with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (DTF), so the DRA ruled against landlord. Landlord appealed, claiming that the DHCR should have made its own investigation of tenant's income or waited until tenant's 1998 returns were filed to get a tax match from DTF before deciding the application. The DHCR ruled for landlord. The DHCR wasn't required to do an independent investigation. But it was now DHCR policy to wait until tax returns were filed before deciding these applications in cases where tenants had filed extensions for late income tax returns.

Halpern: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. PA410050RO (4/30/01) [3-pg. doc.]