Fair Market Rent Greater Than Rent Charged to Tenant

Tenant filed a fair market rent appeal, claiming that her initial rent-stabilized rent was greater than the fair market rent. Landlord submitted comparability data, claiming that the rent was consistent with other rents in the building. The DRA ruled against tenant. Tenant appealed, claiming that the room count claimed for her apartment was incorrect and that this affected the calculation of the maximum base rent used to calculate the fair market rent for her apartment. The DHCR ruled against tenant. The DRA set tenant's fair market rent at $976, based on HUD rents established for one-bedroom apartments as of October 1, 2003. The HUD rent was greater than the 2004 MBR increase by an additional 50 percent. It didn't matter if there was an error in the MBR, since the fair market rent using the HUD figure was higher. Since tenant's initial rent of $850 was less than $976, her rent was less than the fair market rent.

Afres: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. UH410076RT (2/9/07) [5-pg. doc.]