No Proof Prime Tenant Paid $2,000 or More per Month

Subtenant complained that landlord refused to offer her a rent-stabilized lease. The DRA ruled for subtenant based on a finding that tenant was illusory and that tenant was landlord's agent. Landlord also had claimed that the apartment was, in any event, deregulated because the apartment's legal rent was over $2,000 per month. The DRA ruled for subtenant. The DRA found that tenant was illusory and that the legal rent was $1,600. Landlord appealed and lost. The DRA incorrectly ruled that there was an illusory tenancy. But there was no proof that tenant or subtenant ever paid a rent of $2,000 or more per month. Rather, tenant, who was landlord's agent, accepted monthly rent from subtenant in the amount of $1,600. There was a direct landlord-tenant relationship between landlord and subtenant. Subtenant was entitled to rent-stabilized lease, with a base rent of $1,600 per month.

60 91 Street Corp.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. TE410044RO (8/12/05) [5-pg. doc.]