Tenant Gave Up Apartment After Fire

Tenant complained that landlord failed to offer her a rent-stabilized renewal lease. The DRA ruled for tenant based on landlord's failure to answer the complaint. Landlord appealed and won. The DHCR acknowledged that it had sent the complaint to landlord's prior address by mistake. So the default was excusable. Landlord argued that tenant had voluntarily vacated the apartment and surrendered any right to the apartment in writing. Tenant in turn claimed that she paid landlord $1 per month after a fire left the apartment uninhabitable. She thought she was just agreeing to a return of her security deposit after landlord told her it had no insurance money to fix the apartment. But tenant filed no service reduction complaint with the DHCR that would have preserved her right to return. And tenant signed a written agreement to give up the apartment in exchange for the return of her security deposit. Landlord also had re-rented the apartment to another rent-stabilized tenant.

346 E. 29th Street Holdings LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. CP210025RO (1/28/15) [3-pg. doc.]