Landlord Didn't Prove DC-2 Notice Given to Tenants

Facts: Tenants moved into a rent-stabilized apartment on Aug. 1, 1987, at a monthly rent of $985. Tenants complained of a rent overcharge in November 1988, claiming prior tenant paid $108 per month. Landlord submitted to the DRA a copy of a DC-2 notice of the initial legal regulated rent, which contained tenants' signatures. Tenants claimed that they never received the DC-2 notice. The DRA ruled for tenants and reduced their initial monthly rent to $330. The DRA found that landlord didn't prove it hand-delivered the DC-2 notice to tenants. Landlord appealed and submitted a sworn statement from its real estate broker, who stated that he personally delivered the DC-2 notice to tenants in his office when tenants signed the lease for the apartment just before Aug. 1, 1987. DHCR: Landlord loses. The Rent Stabilization Code states that a tenant must file a fair market rent appeal within 90 days after landlord mails tenant the DC-2 notice by certified mail. Hand-delivery is acceptable only in limited cases if landlord can prove delivery. In this case, a hearing was held. Tenants testified that they didn't know how their signatures got on the DC-2 form; one tenant claimed she didn't sign it. The real estate broker claimed he explained the DC-2 notice to tenants, but they denied this and the ALJ believed tenants. The broker also admitted that at the time he supposedly gave tenants the DC-2 notice, they hadn't been accepted as tenants, the DC-2 notice wasn't filled in except for tenants' signatures, and tenants didn't receive a copy at the time they supposedly signed the DC-2 notice.

Windsor Pl. Corp.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. FK410169RO (11/18/97) [4-page document]