DHCR Must Re-examine Whether Apartment Was Exempt from Rent Stabilization

Rent-stabilized tenant complained to the DHCR in 2020 that he was being overcharged. The DRA ruled against tenant, finding that the apartment was vacancy-deregulated in March 2017 when tenant moved in. Tenant appealed, and the case was reopened and sent back to the DRA for further processing. The DHCR found that the DRA erred in failing to establish June 14, 2015, as the base date for this case. While HSTPA requires a six-year lookback period, the DHCR has taken the position, pursuant to the Court of Appeals 2020 ruling in Regina Metropolitan v. DHCR, that overcharge complaints filed between June 14, 2019, and June 14, 2021, have a base date of June 14, 2015. Since tenant's apartment was rent stabilized on the base date due to landlord's receipt of J-51 tax benefits, the DRA was required to establish a base date legal regulated rent. The DRA must calculate the lawful rent increases leading up to the complaining tenant's occupancy on March 7, 2017. The DRA must then decide how to calculate the legal regulated rent, whether the apartment is rent stabilized, whether there was an overcharge, and, if so, whether the overcharge was willful.

Dayalan: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. LP210016RT (10/11/23)[5-pg. document]