Rent for Apartment Previously Temporarily Exempt from Rent Stabilization

Landlord asked the DHCR how to set the lawful rent in the following situation: A rent-stabilized tenant moved into the building in 1985. In 1986, she became the building's super and lived rent-free until 1997. Landlord no longer needed tenant as the super but wanted to offer her a rent-stabilized lease. In an opinion letter, the DHCR stated that the apartment was temporarily exempt from rent stabilization while tenant was the building's super but should have been registered annually as employee-occupied. If the period of temporary exemption was four years or more, as in this case, and if the last four annual registration statements are in order, then the first rent can be negotiated between landlord and tenant and will be recognized as the legal rent. Registrations will be considered in order even if filed late, up to the time of processing a rent overcharge complaint. If the annual registrations aren't in order, a default method will be applied to set the lawful rent, based on the lower of: 1) the lowest rent in the same line of apartments; or 2) the complaining tenant's rent minus a vacancy and one- or two-year guidelines increase.

DHCR Opin. Ltr. by Charles Goldstein (11/13/97) [2-pg. doc.]