Insufficient Proof of IAI Rent Increases Prevent Finding Apartment Was Deregulated

The DHCR's Tenant Protection Unit (TPU) referred a rent overcharge claim to the DRA after landlord failed to comply with the results of TPU's audit of landlord's individual apartment improvements (IAIs). The DRA ruled for tenant, finding that the apartment was rent stabilized and that tenant had been overcharged by $63, including interest.

Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that the apartment had been vacancy deregulated before tenant moved in. The prior rent was $1,900, landlord spent $3,500 on IAIs, and the legal rent in 2014 when tenant moved in met the $2,500 deregulation threshold. But landlord also claimed it spent $5,465 on IAIs before prior tenant moved into the unit in 2012. Landlord failed to submit sufficient proof of those IAIs. Landlord's production of checks payable to a person without proof that the person was connected to the corporation that landlord claimed performed the work was insufficient proof to show that the corporation completed the IAI and was paid for the work. The DRA also correctly denied any IAI increase for work on the bathroom, painting the apartment, and buffing/polyurethane of the floor, because these items were repair and maintenance work.

85 Ep, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. FW210006RO (6/5/18) [5-pg. doc.]