Landlord Must Wait Until Next Registration Cycle to Correct Apartment Status Error

Landlord asked the DHCR to amend its 2017 apartment registration and to expunge 2018 and 2019 registrations for the same apartment. Landlord claimed that the unit had previously been deregulated in January 2017 due to high-rent vacancy and that it had mistakenly given current tenant a rent-stabilized lease rider. Landlord argued that the 2017 deregulation was the result of vacancy and longevity rent increases as well as individual apartment improvements (IAIs) performed in 2016.

The DRA ruled against landlord, who appealed and lost. Rent Stabilization Code Section 2528.3(c) permits amendment of prior rent registrations only for ministerial or clerical errors such as the rent amount, tenant name misspellings, or an incorrect lease term. Landlord can't seek rent registration amendment when seeking to recalculate an apartment's rent history through the addition of rent increases for IAIs, MCIs, or other rent increases not previously charged to and paid by a tenant. As the DRA advised landlord, it could correct any such error in the next rent registration cycle but should keep all relevant rent records on file.

SP Gramercy Properties LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. HV410221RO (8/19/21)[3-pg. document]