Rent Administrator Must Reconsider Whether Building Was Substantially Rehabbed

Landlord applied to the DHCR for exemption from rent regulation based on substantial rehabilitation of landlord's building. The DRA ruled for landlord, finding that the building was rehabbed in 1981 under provisions of the Private Housing Finance Law that placed the building under a Regulatory Agreement with HPD. That agreement had expired in March 2006 when landlord repaid the government financing. But tenants who lived in the building during the tax exemption/abatement and didn't receive the required "Notice of Tax abatement" with their initial and/or renewal leases remained rent regulated while they lived in the building.

Tenants appealed, and the case was reopened. The DHCR found that landlord's proof of substantial rehab was insufficient. There were no DOB-approved architectural plans or other appropriate government approvals in this case. Landlord's proposed plans didn't cover 75 percent of the building-wide and apartment systems required to be replaced under DHCR Operational Bulletin 95-2. Landlord also never submitted to the DRA any DOB filings, architect or engineer's statement about the scope of the work, delineation of building systems, or statement that the renovations qualified as a sub rehab. 

Colon: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. GR210005UC (3/26/21) [4-pg. doc.]