Landlord Can't Amend DHCR Registrations to Correct Apartment Status

Landlord applied to the DHCR to request amendment of annual rent registrations for an apartment for the years 1990 to 2023. Landlord claimed that the apartment's status was incorrectly registered as rent stabilized for those years when the unit was in fact rent controlled. 

The DRA ruled against landlord, finding that landlord sought more than correction of ministerial errors and that amendments seeking to recalculate the rental history of the apartment or other types of changes weren't eligible for an application to amend the rent registration. The DRA also stated that landlord should keep all relevant rent records on file in case a tenant seeks a ruling concerning the legal rent and/or status of the apartment, and that registration information provided by landlord during the normal registration cycle was part of the apartment's rent history and couldn't be deleted.

Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that the same tenant had been in occupancy since 1984. But the DHCR held that amendments seeking to change an apartment's status for any reason claimed weren't allowed, and seeking to amend the apartment status because it had been misidentified in the registrations in question was improper and goes beyond the scope of an amendment application proceeding. 

554-11 Realty LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. MR210001RO (10/24/24)[3-pg. document]