Project-Based Section 8 Tenant Not Subject to Rent Stabilization

Tenant asked the DHCR to determine her regulatory status. Landlord had increased tenant's rent and registered the apartment as rent stabilized, but the DHCR rejected the registration. The DRA ruled that tenant's rent was set by HUD, and tenant therefore wasn't rent-stabilized. Tenant appealed and lost. Landlord had mistakenly registered tenant's apartment with the DHCR. Under Rent Stabilization Code Section 2520.11(c), units in buildings aided by government insurance under any provision of the National Housing Act are exempt from stabilization. Tenant's apartment was temporarily exempt from stabilization due to landlord's Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract with HUD. This contract gave Section 8 rent subsidies to apartments occupied by low-income tenants. Seven tenants in the building, including tenant, paid market rents set by HUD and received no rent subsidy because their incomes were too high. But since the federal rent assistance landlord received was project-based, rather than based on an individual tenant voucher, the DHCR can't reduce tenant's HUD-approved contract rent.

Mars: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. XC110003RT (7/30/09) [3-pg. doc.]