Tenant Repeatedly Refused to Verify Income

Landlord applied for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant's rent-stabilized apartment in 2010, when tenant's legal rent was $2,000 or more and sought verification of whether tenant's household income was over $175,000 per year in 2008 and 2009. In 2014, the DRA ruled for landlord based on tenant's default. Tenant appealed, and the case was reopened in 2015 because tenant claimed he didn't receive the DRA's notices concerning landlord's application and the DHCR couldn't verify whether the notices were sent. Tenant repeatedly responded to the DRA's new notice of the luxury deregulation proceeding by seeking additional time to answer. Tenant also claimed that the DHCR shouldn't apply old law to this application but that it should now apply the higher deregulation thresholds of $2,700 for the rent and $200,000 for annual income. The DRA again ruled for landlord in 2016.

Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant's repeated failure to provide the required income verification information prevented the DHCR and the Department of Taxation and Finance (DTF) from verifying the level of relevant household income for the apartment. Tenant clearly failed to meet his obligations under the Rent Stabilization Code. The DRA advised tenant in 2016 that he could get copies of 2008 and 2009 income tax returns directly from DTF if he needed to do so. And, although the Rent Stabilization Law and Code were amended in 2011 to increase the statutory income and rent thresholds for luxury decontrol, those provisions explicitly state that they are to be applied prospectively only. For proceedings "commenced before July 1, 2011," the applicable income and rent thresholds remained what they were when landlord filed its application in 2010. 

Wirth: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. EQ410074RT (10/4/17) [10-pg. doc.]