Tenant Claims She's Rent Controlled, Not Stabilized

Tenant, who claimed she was rent controlled, complained to the DHCR of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled against tenant in April 2019, finding that the apartment was rent stabilized and that there was no overcharge.

Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant claimed that she had lived in the unit since 1970 and that she was a successor tenant to her grandmother. Tenant also claimed that landlord improperly decontrolled the apartment in 1987, that her grandmother moved out in 2007, that the last rent-controlled rent was $119, and that the rent should be frozen.

But the DRA properly found that the apartment was rent stabilized on the base date based on leases and rent registrations. Events occurring before the base date, including an alleged improper decontrol of the unit in 1987, were outside the scope of the statutory review period for tenant's rent overcharge compliant. The DRA properly instructed tenant to file an Administrative Determination (AD) proceeding if she disputed the rent-stabilized status of the apartment. And in a court-approved settlement stipulation in 2007, tenant accepted a rent-stabilized lease from landlord after tenant moved out. 

Chapman: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. IS210068RK (3/3/21) [2-pg. doc.]