DHCR Can't Decide Tenant's Claim That Unit's Co-op Exemption Was Invalid

Tenant complained to the DHCR in 2021 of rent overcharge. The DHCR consolidated that complaint with three lease violation complaints also filed by tenant. The DRA ruled that tenant's apartment wasn't subject to rent regulation because it became a co-op in 1982, and tenant didn't rent the apartment until 2018.

Tenant appealed and lost. He claimed that under Rent Stabilization Law amendments made by HSTPA effective June 14, 2019, a non-eviction co-op conversion plan can't be declared effective util at least 51 percent of all dwelling units were sold, that landlord fraudulently converted the building into a co-op, and that the housing court denied landlord's eviction proceeding against tenant in 2023 based on landlord's failure to prove that there was a legitimate co-op conversion.

The DHCR denied tenant's PAR. HSTPA amendments to the rent stabilization law don't apply to the co-op conversion at tenant's building because it took place in 1982 and was approved by the NY State Attorney General. DHCR records also indicated that the premises was registered as exempt due to co-op conversion since 1985. Tenant moved into the unit many years after the approved co-op conversion. Although the Housing Court found that the co-op conversion may be invalid given landlord's behavior in the ensuring years after the approved conversion, the DHCR didn't have the authority to make such a determination or undo the approved conversion. As suggested by the DRA, tenant may file a complaint with the AG's Office to investigate the legitimacy of the co-op conversion.

McCarry: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. MQ410017RT (10/8/24)[2-pg. document]