Landlord Offered Tenant a Proper Vacancy Lease

Tenant complained that landlord didn’t give him a proper rent-stabilized lease. Tenant moved into the apartment in 1974 under a loft lease. In 2007, the building became subject to rent stabilization under a Loft Board order. That order directed landlord to give tenant a two-year lease for the term starting March 1, 2007, at a rent of $1,245. The DRA ruled for tenant in part. Landlord properly offered tenant the first rent-stabilized lease as required by the Loft Board but, as tenant requested, landlord should add tenant’s wife to the lease and to future renewal leases.

Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant claimed that the lease offered contained provisions that violated the rent stabilization law and tenant’s rights under the Loft Law. But Rent Stabilization Code (RSC) Section 2522.5 doesn’t set forth any specific requirements concerning clauses in a vacancy lease other than that the lease have a one- or two-year term, that it state the legal regulated rent, and that it not contain any illegal rent adjustment provisions. The RSC also doesn't authorize the DHCR to evaluate specific lease clauses in initial vacancy leases. Landlord offered tenant a proper initial rent-stabilized lease in compliance with the Loft Board order. The Loft Board didn’t state that the vacancy lease had to contain any specific provisions that expressly state tenant’s rights under the Loft Law. The lease complied with the rent stabilization law, and tenant was otherwise protected under the rent stabilization law. 

Dimeo: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. DS410031RT (12/3/15) [6-pg. doc.]