DRA Mistakenly Ruled That Apartment Was Deregulated

Tenant complained to the DHCR of rent overcharge and improper deregulation of his apartment. The DRA found that the apartment's legal rent on April 27, 2011, was over the monthly deregulation threshold of $2,000. Therefore, the apartment was unregulated. Tenant appealed and won. The DRA's decision was based on a 2016 housing court decision that was found to have decided the question already. But as tenant pointed out, that 2016 court decision stated that landlord "has not proven that it was entitled to deregulate the apartment in 2011." So the DRA was incorrect. The housing court decision also didn't find that the individual apartment improvements (IAIs) claimed by landlord had in fact been performed. So the DHCR sent the case back to the DRA for consideration of tenant's overcharge claim, including the issue of what allowable costs were attributable to claimed IAIs.

Carneiro: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. GV410007RT (11/27/19) [2-pg. doc.]