DHCR Rules Tenant Is Rent Stabilized, Doubles Rent

Landlord asked the DHCR to set the legal rent for tenant's apartment. Landlord relied on Rent Stabilization Code Section 2522.6, which allowed the DHCR to set rents in cases where the legal rents were unknown. In a prior case, a court had ruled that tenant's apartment was rent stabilized. In response to landlord's application, the DHCR doubled tenant's rent. Landlord appealed, claiming that the DHCR should have used comparable rents submitted by landlord to set tenant's rent. The court and appeals court ruled against landlord. The DHCR relied on a schedule of fair market rents maintained by HUD and sought to avoid an unreasonably high rent increase. The comparable rents landlord wanted the DHCR to use to set tenant's rent weren't rent-stabilized rents, and landlord submitted no information as to how those rents were calculated.

W 54-7 LLC v. DHCR: NYLJ, 4/16/07, p. 28, col. 5 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Mazzarelli, P, Andrias, Friedman, McGuire, Malone, JJ)