Employee Occupied Apartment on Base Date

Tenant complained of a rent overcharge. Landlord claimed that the apartment was employee-occupied before tenant moved in and so the rent charged to tenant was the initial legal rent. The DRA ruled for landlord. Tenant appealed and lost. A hearing had been held. Landlord's employee testified that he lived in the apartment rent-free from 1981 until 1986. Tenant filed his complaint in 1990, so the base rent date was 1986, when the apartment was employee-exempt at no rent. So tenant's first rent in 1987 was the legal, regulated rent.

Reisner: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. MC410052RT (1/18/01) [3-pg. doc.]