Tenant Proves She's Been Apartment's Rent-Controlled Tenant Since 1967

Landlord asked the DHCR to determine an apartment's regulatory status. Landlord claimed that rent-controlled tenant Rose Blickenstaff lived in the apartment until Jan. 1, 1972, then moved out and that current tenant Robin Budnetz moved in. Landlord claimed that current tenant was rent stabilized. Tenant answered that she had lived in the apartment since November 1967. She lived there originally with Ralph Blickenstaff as an unmarried couple, and remained in the unit when Ralph moved out in the 1970s. She paid rent to prior landlord. In 1974, she refused to sign an offered rent-stabilized lease and filed a complaint with the Office of Rent Control. Tenant claimed that the ORC and a Civil Court had deemed her a rent-controlled tenant, that no appeals were filed by prior landlord, and that current landlord accepted her rent payments for at least three years without filing its DHCR application.

The DRA ruled for tenant, finding there was sufficient proof that she continuously occupied the apartment since before July 1, 1971, and therefore was a rent-controlled tenant.

Landlord appealed and lost. The DRA properly relied on Rent Control Registration cards dating back to 1967 that noted tenant's name, correspondence addressed to tenant at the address in 1970, statements from former tenants and tenant's brother that tenant lived in the unit since 1967, and various DHCR orders indicating that tenant was the apartment's rent-controlled tenant. In response, landlord submitted little to dispute tenant's evidence. 

Parsons 88 Realty LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. HT110001RO (9/24/21)[4-pg. document]