Long-Term Tenant Was Rent Controlled

Landlord asked the DHCR to determine tenant’s rent regulatory status. The DRA ruled that tenant was rent controlled. Landlord appealed and lost. It didn’t matter that the building didn’t have three or more completed or converted units as of February 1947. Rent-control regulations provide that rent control applies to any building or structure occupied or intended to be occupied by one or more individuals as a residence not owned by the city and rented before May 1, 1950. Apartments in one- or two-family houses that became vacant on or after April 1, 1953, were decontrolled only when the building was used exclusively for residential purposes. HPD I-Cards showed that the first floor was used for nonresidential purposes as of January 1942. Since the building wasn’t used exclusively for residential purposes, the two residential units within the building weren’t subject to vacancy decontrol as of April 1, 1953, or at any time thereafter. Otherwise, an apartment becomes subject to decontrol only after vacancy on or after June 30, 1971. Tenant proved that she had lived in the apartment since at least 1966. The absence of an MBR file at the DHCR indicates only that prior landlord may not have participated in the MBR program started in the early 1970s. The DHCR’s records otherwise included rent-control records for the apartment dating back to 1951.

Fairfax Management Corp.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. DP420032RO (7/9/15) [4-pg. doc.]