Landlord Didn't Prove Apartment Was Vacancy Deregulated

Tenant asked the DHCR for a ruling on the regulatory status of his apartment, as well as the legal rent. Landlord claimed that the unit was properly deregulated based on high-rent vacancy in 2011 when an exit registration was filed with the DHCR. The DRA ruled for tenant, finding that landlord failed to provide a complete rent history from 2001 to present and all supporting documentation for all rent increases. Evidence included a 1999 annual registration for the unit at a legal regulated rent of $369.44. Since there was no proof of any other leases, the DRA calculated a legal rent of $577.61 as the legal rent under a one-year lease that commenced on Dec. 1, 2013.

Landlord appealed and won in part. Landlord failed to preserve a rent in excess of $2,000 in the apartment's 2010 lease. Therefore, landlord waived what it could have reserved as the legal rent in 2010. What it charged became the next legal rent, with no higher rent preserved. So the initial $1,800 rent paid by tenant in December 2010 was tenant's initial rent. With lawful rent increases, the legal regulated rent was still only $2,000 in December 2023. Since the deregulation threshold at that time was $2,500, the rent remained stabilized at the date of the DRA's order.  

729-731 Lafayette Mgmt, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. FX210001RO (12/15/23)[3-pg. document]