Landlord Can't Amend Rent Registration

In 2013, when it purchased and took over management of a building, landlord asked the DHCR for permission to amend rent registrations for one apartment for each year dating back to 2008/2009. Landlord claimed that the apartment should've been registered as deregulated and permanently exempt in the 2008/2009 annual DHCR rent registrations since the apartment's legal regulated rent reached the $2,000 threshold with a deregulated lease as of March 2009. At that time, prior landlord issued a deregulated lease on Feb. 19, 2009, along with a First Time Deregulated Rider, to the tenant who moved in. The DRA ruled against landlord, stating that rent registrations can be amended only to correct ministerial issues such as clerical errors in rent amounts, misspelling of the tenant's name, or an incorrect lease term. Amendments seeking to deregulate the apartment, recalculate the rental history of the apartment, or other types of changes aren't permitted. 

Landlord appealed and lost. The DHCR found that the DRA properly denied landlord's request to amend rent registrations. The claimed mischaracterization of the apartment's rent-regulated status wasn't a ministerial issue, and landlord can't amend a 10-year-old registration to change an apartment's status.

Selkirk 308 West 82nd St LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. FW410026RO (11/27/19) [3-pg. doc.]