DHCR Can't Look Past Tax Match Records in Deregulation Case

Landlord applied for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant's apartment in 2007. Tenant claimed that his income was $175,000 or less each year during 2005 and 2006. The DHCR ruled against landlord after matching tenant's claim with DTF records. Landlord appealed, claiming that the DHCR's decision was arbitrary and unreasonable. Landlord said that the DHCR should have considered proof that tenant was a multimillionaire. The court denied landlord's Article 78 petition. The DHCR didn't have the authority or the responsibility to investigate the truth of tenant's tax returns. The DHCR was in fact required to rely on DTF's findings that tenant's household income was less than $175,000 in each of the years in question.

Parkview Assets LLC v. DHCR: NYLJ, 3/3/10, p. 26, col. 1 (Sup. Ct. NY; Scarpulla, J)