Income of Tenant's Daughter Properly Included in Deregulation Proceeding

Landlord applied for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant’s apartment in 2011. The DRA ruled for landlord because tenant’s annual household income was more than $175,000 during 2009 and 2010. Tenant appealed and lost. The income of tenant’s daughter was included in the calculation of the household income. DTF records matched both tenant and her daughter at the apartment. Tenant claimed that her daughter didn’t live in the apartment as her primary residence during the relevant time period. But what mattered was whether the daughter primarily resided in the apartment in March 2011, when landlord sent the Income Certification Form (ICF). Three building employees submitted sworn statements that the daughter was living in the apartment, coming and going regularly every day. The daughter’s driver’s license listed the apartment address. Bank statements and credit card bills from that time also listed the apartment as the daughter’s address. The daughter filed her 2010 New York income tax return from another address but listed it only as her “mailing address.” 

Maurice: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. DQ410031RT (9/22/15) [7-pg. doc.]