DHCR Didn't Delay Processing Landlord's Deregulation Application

Landlord applied in May 2018 for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant's rent-stabilized apartment based on contested household income for the years 2016 and 2017. The DRA denied landlord's application in November 2019, relying on HSTPA's June 2019 repeal of deregulation provisions under the Rent Stabilization Law.

Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord argued that the DHCR's delay in processing its 2018 application was negligent or willful and that the law in effect before HSTPA was enacted should be applied. But the fact that a determination of landlord's 2018 application would've been based on tenant's income in 2016-2017, events that occurred before the passage of HSTPA, didn't matter since the apartment couldn't have been deregulated after June 14, 2019. And the DHCR wasn't withholding issuance of determinations on "LD" applications. The DHCR couldn't have predicted what HSTPA would state in connection with deregulation and, even if there had been delay by the DHCR, the express and explicit language of the legislation repealing high-rent/high-income deregulation controls. And, since tenant's lease had been renewed for the term between Oct. 1, 2018, and Sept. 30, 2020, while landlord's 2018 LD application was pending, the apartment would've remained rent stabilized and not subject to deregulation, even if landlord's application had been decided before HSTPA was enacted.

Rose Associates LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. HX410097RO (7/22/22)[6-pg. document]