Landlord Properly Reregulated Apartment

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA found no overcharge and dismissed the complaint. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant claimed that landlord had improperly deregulated the apartment while the building received J-51 tax benefits. But tenant's base date renewal lease and all subsequent leases were rent stabilized, and apartment registrations for those years matched the lease records. Landlord had vacancy deregulated the apartment in 2007 when prior tenant moved out, and the new monthly rent exceeded $2,000. But landlord gave tenant a lease rider stating that pending court litigation could change the apartment status back to rent stabilized. While landlord didn't offer tenant a rent-stabilized renewal lease until 2014 and didn't reregister the apartment until that time, landlord didn't charge an illegal rent. Landlord in fact continued to charge rent guidelines increases even when it believed the apartment had been vacancy deregulated. So the DRA correctly determined that there was no overcharge.

Blackmore: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. GM110028RT (11/20/18) [3-pg. doc.]