Rent Restoration Date Delayed

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of a reduction in services after a fire made her apartment uninhabitable. The DRA reduced tenant’s rent to $1 per month until it was restored. Landlord applied for rent restoration. The DRA ruled for landlord and made the effective date of rent restoration June 1, 2009. Landlord appealed, claiming that the effective date of rent restoration should be March 25, 2008, when tenant obtained keys to the apartment. The DHCR ruled against landlord. Generally, rent-stabilized rents are restored as of the date an apartment is restored to habitability and tenant either moves back in or declines to do so. In this case, tenant said that she moved back into the apartment in late April 2008 and had to sign an agreement with landlord in March 2008 to get the keys. But landlord didn’t file its rent restoration application until May 2009, 14 months later. So the DRA properly restored tenant’s rent effective June 1, 2009, the first rent payment date after landlord filed its rent restoration application.

305 Realty NY, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. XH210019RO (12/30/09) [3-pg. doc.]