Roommate's Income Not Included in Deregulation Determination

Landlord applied for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant’s apartment in 2008. Tenant claimed that his household income was below the deregulation threshold in both 2006 and 2007. Tenant stated that his roommate didn’t occupy the apartment as his primary residence, so the roommate’s income didn’t count toward the income threshold. The DRA ruled against landlord after DTF confirmed that the combined income for tenant and his daughter, who also lived in the apartment, was under $175,000 each year in question. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that the roommate did primarily reside in the apartment when the Income Certification Form was served, so his income should have been included in determining household income. But the roommate had another residence in Hopewell Junction, denied he primarily resided in tenant’s apartment, and had submitted documentation showing his primary residence there, including a driver’s license, voter registration, election notices, car registration, Social Security statements, local tax bills, a homeowner’s insurance policy, and various utility bills. Landlord submitted no direct proof contradicting the roommate’s claim. The fact that tenant listed the roommate as his “partner/spouse” in a form notice dated 2006 by which landlord had requested information as to other apartment occupants didn’t prove that the apartment was the roommate’s primary residence and predated the years in question for luxury deregulation purposes.

230 West 97th Street LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. YI410072RO (8/15/12) [7-pg. doc.]