Landlord Can't Take Back Offer

Tenants complained that landlord didn't properly renew their rent-stabilized lease. The DRA ruled that the renewal lease offered wasn't valid because landlord didn't sign it. The DRA also stated that the renewal offer had included a preferential rent that landlord no longer intended to honor, and that landlord had given tenants another renewal lease without the preferential rent offer. Tenants appealed. Tenants showed that landlord's April 1, 2005, rent bill reflected the preferential rent, and that landlord had cashed their additional security deposit for the preferential rent amount. Tenants argued that these actions showed that landlord signed a renewal lease at the preferential rent. The DHCR ruled for tenants. Landlord sent tenants a renewal lease based on the preferential rent, which tenants accepted. Landlord took back that renewal lease offer on April 11, 2005, after billing tenants for the preferential rent during the renewal term and after accepting a security deposit at the preferential rent. Once tenants accepted landlord's lease renewal offer at the preferential rent and the lease term started, there was a binding agreement that landlord couldn't take back.

Connolly/Strotman: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. TJ410039RT (1/27/06) [2-pg. doc.]