Tenant's Failure to Answer Deregulation Application Excused

Landlord applied for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant’s apartment in 2009. The DRA ruled for landlord based on tenant’s failure to answer the agency’s notice of the application. Tenant appealed, asking the DHCR to excuse her default. She claimed that her income was below the deregulation threshold and that she didn’t answer the notice due to medical problems. Tenant stated that she was 70 years old and suffered from heart disease, diabetes, dysthymic disorder, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, depression, and memory problems. She therefore was unable to attend to and neglected important mail and paperwork. Tenant had also been hospitalized for cardiac surgery at around the time when the original notice and answer form were mailed to her. Tenant also claimed that the building was subject to J-51 and therefore ineligible for luxury deregulation. The DHCR dismissed tenant’s PAR as untimely.

Tenant then appealed, and the court sent the case back to the DHCR for further consideration. The DHCR now ruled for tenant and reopened the case. A ruling by New York’s highest court permits the DHCR to excuse tenant’s default for good cause shown. Tenant showed that her default was due to serious medical and psychological problems that affected her ability to attend to her personal matters. Hospital records and a letter from tenant’s psychiatrist supported her claim. This was also landlord’s first deregulation application for tenant’s apartment, and tenant therefore had no prior experience or understanding of the drastic consequences resulting from failure to answer.

Taylor: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. AQ410001RP (7/19/12) [6-pg. doc.]