Preferential Rent Renewal Provisions Under HSTPA Not Effective Retroactively

Tenant complained to the DHCR, claiming that landlord had offered her an improper rent-stabilized renewal lease. In 2011, she moved into the apartment with a monthly preferential rent of $1,250. In November 2016 her lease was renewed at a monthly preferential rent of $1,490. Landlord offered her a renewal lease at a preferential rent of either $2,008 for a one-year renewal or $2,048 for a two-year renewal.

The DRA ruled for tenant, finding that the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA) provided that, effective June 14, 2019, landlord couldn't increase the preferential rent more than the allotted guidelines increase in a lease renewal. The DRA directed landlord to amend the offered renewal lease by applying rent guideline increases to the preferential rent in the expired lease.

Landlord appealed and won. The renewal lease in question was fully executed between landlord and tenant in November 2018 for a two-year term. So the preferential rent provisions of HSTPA, which became effective on June 14, 2019, didn't apply to the renewal lease that tenant complained about. 

Grand Avenue Investors LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. HV610226RO (12/11/19) [2-pg. doc.]