Divorced Tenants Maintained Rent-Controlled Status in Two Separate Apartments

Tenant A, living in Apt. 6, and Tenant B, living in Apt. 11, asked the DHCR in 2016 to determine their regulatory status and the rents for their apartments. They claimed that Tenant B rented Apt. 6 in 1957 and that Tenant A moved in with him when they married in 1964. Later, Tenant B became the super of three of landlord's buildings. Tenant B claimed that he took possession of Apt. 11 in 1969, when a prior tenant moved out. He said he continued to pay rent in prior tenant's name but told prior landlord about this in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

Tenant A divorced Tenant B in 2000, and a court granted her a divorce judgment with exclusive use and occupancy of Apt. 6. New landlord, who bought the building in 2016, opposed the application. The DRA ruled for tenants, finding that Tenant B was the rent-controlled tenant of Apt. 6 since 1957 and that Tenant A became the first successor tenant of that unit after Tenant B moved to Apt. 11. Tenant A's rent remained $125 per month because no MBR applications had been filed. She had now moved out and Apt. 6 was subject to rent stabilization. And since Tenant B occupied Apt. 11 since before July 1, 1971, he was subject to rent control in that unit. The MCR for Apt. 11 was set at $141.91. 

Landlord appealed and lost. Tenants had submitted documents proving the factual grounds for their claims. A prior landlord had registered both apartments as rent controlled in 1984. And, although Tenant A had died while the application was pending before the DRA and Tenant B had died while the landlord's PAR was pending, their deaths didn't result in termination of these proceedings. 

218-220 LLC & 218 Assets LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. JO410015RO (3/30/22)[5-pg. document]