DHCR Can't Investigate Tenant's Income in Deregulation Case

Landlord applied for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant’s rent-stabilized apartment in 2012. The DRA ruled against landlord after DTF tax match records showed that tenant’s total annual household income wasn't more than $200,000 in 2010 and 2011. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that tenant was an experienced and successful attorney at a prominent law firm and that his salary must have been well in excess of $200,000 per year. Tenant’s legal regulated rent also was close to $6,000 per month. But the DHCR is required by law to rely on the DTF records to determine tenant’s income. The DHCR is neither qualified nor authorized to conduct further investigation of tenant’s household income.

S&P Associates of New York, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. DQ410044RO (7/22/15) [6-pg. doc.]