Deregulation Order Revoked Based on Lease in Effect on June 14, 2019

Landlord applied for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant's rent-stabilized apartment in 2018. The DRA ruled for landlord based on tenant's failure to answer the notice of the application and to provide information for income verification. The high-income rent deregulation was effective upon the expiration of the existing lease.

Tenant appealed and won. Tenant argued that his income was below the deregulation threshold in both 2016 and 2017. He also claimed he had medical ailments. The DHCR ruled for tenant for a different reason. When the DRA issued its order on March 1, 2019, the apartment's existing lease had commenced on Feb. 1, 2018, and was set to expire on Jan. 31, 2020. Since the lease expiration date was after June 14, 2019, the effective date of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA), the apartment remained rent stabilized. HSTPA amended the Rent Stabilization Law to provide only that any unit "lawfully deregulated prior to June 14, 2019 shall remain deregulated." The law, which abolished high-rent/high-income deregulation otherwise took effect immediately.

Paris: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. HP410009RT (1/24/20) [3-pg. doc.]