Long-Term Tenant Proves He Is Rent Controlled

Tenant claimed that he was rent controlled and asked the DHCR to make a ruling confirming his status. Landlord had filed a report of statutory decontrol in 2005. Landlord claimed that a rent-controlled tenant moved out in 2002. She had paid $350 per month before she left. Landlord then charged current tenant $400 per month. The DRA ruled for tenant. Landlord appealed, claiming that tenant wasn't subject to rent control because he didn't live with prior tenant for at least two years before she moved out. The DHCR ruled against landlord. Tenant had submitted sufficient proof of his status, including five notarized statements from people who said tenant maintained his primary residence at the apartment from 1969 to 2002 or lived in the apartment with prior tenant, his mother, from 2000 to 2002. Two of these statements were from New York City police officers. Documents proving tenant's address included a firearms permit. Landlord claimed that during the two years before his mother's death, tenant lived in his grandmother's apartment in the neighborhood. But tenant said that he had spent time there only to take care of his ailing grandmother while he maintained his primary residence at the apartment he shared with his mother. And landlord waited more than two years to file the report of decontrol after tenant's mother died.

Daniels: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. UL220007RO (4/19/07) [5-pg. doc.]