Tenant Evicted Before Filing Service Reduction Complaint

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of a reduction in services after a fire rendered the apartment uninhabitable. The DRA ruled for tenant and reduced her rent to $1 per month while the apartment was unoccupied. Landlord appealed and won. Tenant was legally evicted from the apartment in a housing court proceeding in April 2012. This was 16 months before tenant filed her service reduction complaint. Therefore, the DHCR had no authority to reduce her rent. The DHCR didn't rule on landlord's additional claim that the apartment space had been substantially reconfigured after the fire and that landlord therefore was entitled to charge a first rent for the apartment.

234 Management, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. BW210011RO (12/31/14) [5-pg. doc.]