Tenant Who Switched Apartments Retained Rent-Stabilized Status

Tenant asked the DHCR to rule on whether her apartment was rent stabilized after landlord sent her an unregulated renewal lease that raised her rent by $500 per month. The DRA ruled for tenant and found that the apartment was rent stabilized. Landlord appealed and lost. Tenant was registered as the rent-stabilized tenant of record of Apartment 4 from 1994 to 1997, and then was registered as the rent-stabilized tenant of Apartment 5 from 1998 to 2003, and 2005. Tenant's lease records were consistent with the registration information. Current landlord amended registrations to redesignate tenant's apartment as owner-occupied or exempt for 1998 through 2005, and the DRA correctly found that this amendment was unreliable. Landlord's claim that tenant didn't retain her rights under rent stabilization when she relocated from Apartment 4 to Apartment 5 in 1997 also was without merit.

Elgart: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. EW210043RO (4/28/17) [3-pg. doc.]