Tenant Challenges Landlord's Claimed High-Rent Vacancy Deregulation

Landlord sued to evict tenant after tenant's lease expired. Landlord claimed that tenant was unregulated. Tenant claimed that he was subject to rent stabilization and that he had been overcharged. Both sides asked the court to rule without a trial, but the court found that a trial was needed to determine the facts. Landlord claimed that, before tenant moved in, a high-rent vacancy occurred in 2005. Landlord also claimed that during the year prior to the high-rent vacancy, landlord had spent money on apartment improvements that warranted a $2,100 increase in the monthly rent. The court also ruled that landlord's delay in filing annual DHCR rent registrations was relevant for the purpose of determining the amount of the collectible rent during the period of noncompliance. But this didn't freeze the legal rent in perpetuity or prevent landlord from relying on the apartment improvements it claimed were made during the noncompliance period as a basis to increase the apartment rent. 

49 East 74th Street LLC v. Slater: 42 Misc.3d 134(A), 2014 NY Slip Op 50072(U) (App. T. 1 Dept.; 1/28/14; Schoenfeld, JP, Hunter Jr., Torres, JJ)