Landlord Can't Rely on 1982 Rent to Increase Legal Rent in 2007

Landlord asked the DHCR to adjust tenant's rent-stabilized rent. In a prior 2004 order, the DHCR had ruled that tenant's apartment was rent stabilized because tenant moved into the apartment in 1982 before a cooperative conversion of the building. Landlord claimed that the prior order never determined the amount of tenant's legal regulated rent. Tenant paid $650 per month in 2003. But landlord claimed that a March 1982 rent bill indicated that tenant's rent at that time was $1,300 per month. Tenant showed that the 1984 registered rent for his apartment was $650, and submitted rent bills showing that the rent was still $650 in 2008. The DRA ruled against landlord based on the documentation of the $650 rent.

Landlord appealed and lost. The DHCR must apply the four-year rule to this case and can't look at rents charged before Aug. 23, 2003. The four-year rule applies not only to overcharge complaints, but to cases like this where landlord sought an administrative ruling on the legal rent. Since tenant's rent was $650 in 2003, that was the legal regulated rent.

Bleecker Street Management Co.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. XB410002RO (6/18/09) [3-pg. doc.]