Tenant's Failure to Respond to Deregulation Application Excused

Landlord applied for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant's rent-stabilized apartment in 2016 when tenant's legal rent reached $2,700 or more, to determine whether tenant's annual household income exceeded $200,000 in 2014 and 2015. The DRA ruled for landlord based on tenant's default. Tenant appealed, and the case was reopened. Tenant claimed that he suffered from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), that due to heart disease he couldn't take medicine to treat the ADD, and that he may have inadvertently overlooked DHCR notices about landlord's application due to his condition. Tenant submitted a doctor's report to support his claim, as well as copies of the first pages of his tax returns showing his income to be below the deregulation threshold. The DHCR excused tenant's default for good cause based on his psychological and medical conditions. In addition, tenant had responded to five prior luxury decontrol proceedings. So he understood the consequences of failing to respond. 

Spivak: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. GS410053RT (12/17/18) [4-pg. doc.]