No Renewal Increases Added Where No Rent History Records Provided to DHCR

Tenant complained of rent overcharge. Landlord claimed that the apartment was no longer rent stabilized due to high-rent vacancy deregulation. Tenant claimed fraud and said that the DRA should look at the rent history going back more than four years. The DRA asked landlord to submit copies of leases and rent ledgers dating back to Dec. 1, 1999, to prove how the apartment was vacancy deregulated. The DRA ruled that tenant's initial legal rent was $967, based on the last rent-stabilized rent of $850 in 1999 plus a one-year vacancy increase in 2008. 

Landlord appealed and lost. The DHCR ruled that the base date rent in this case wasn't reliable since there was an improper deregulation of the apartment while the building was receiving J-51 tax benefits. And since the apartment was temporarily exempt on the base rent date due to owner occupancy, it was proper to go back to the last rent-stabilized rent in order to calculate the later legal regulated rent. Since landlord didn't give the DRA any rent records for 2001-2007, the DRA couldn't establish any legal tenancies or rent amounts, and it was reasonable for the DRA not to add any rent increase from 2001-2007 when establishing the base date rent. The legal rent in 2012 was properly set at $1,275 per month and, since tenant wasn't given a renewal lease, the legal rent remained at that amount.

Highbridge Apartments Estates LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. EU610067RO (11/9/17) [7-pg. doc.]