Rent Hike Ordered Based on Consideration of Equities

Tenant complained that landlord refused to give him a rent-stabilized lease. Tenant moved into the building in 1994 without a lease. At that time, landlord was tenant’s grandmother, and she charged him $400 per month. After landlord died, other family members inherited the building. New landlord, the estate’s executor, claimed that the apartment was temporarily exempt from stabilization because it was occupied by a family member. Still, new landlord offered tenant a rent-stabilized lease at a fair market rent of $1,000, with a preferential rent of $400 until the building was sold. The DRA dismissed tenant’s complaint. Tenant appealed.

The DHCR permitted the rent increase that landlord proposed, with a slight reduction. Rent Stabilization Code Section 2522.7 permits the DHCR to consider all factors bearing on the equities involved in adjusting or establishing a legal regulated rent. The average rent for other rent-stabilized apartments in the building was $968. And tenant had long benefited from paying a low rent as landlord's family member. So landlord should offer tenant a lease at a legal regulated rent of $968.

Marra: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. XE110002RP (6/9/09) [2-pg. doc.]