Tenants Relocated After Fire Remain Rent Controlled

Tenant complained of a rent overcharge after landlord discontinued what landlord claimed was a preferential rent upon lease renewal. Tenant also claimed that she was rent controlled, not rent stabilized. The DRA ruled for tenant. Landlord appealed and lost. Tenant and her husband had lived in a different rent-controlled apartment in the building until 1995, when a fire made their apartment uninhabitable. Landlord offered tenant a different apartment in the same building. Tenant moved in and later received a rent-stabilized lease and renewal leases that listed rent increases over a preferential rent close to tenant's prior rent, and a much higher rent-stabilized rent. Landlord claimed that tenant was rent stabilized because she moved voluntarily to the new apartment, she signed a number of renewal leases, and the relocation wasn't done for the convenience of landlord. But tenant's move wasn't voluntary. Tenant didn't ask for the relocation; landlord approached her while she was ousted from her original apartment and would otherwise have had to find temporary lodgings. There was no written agreement between landlord and tenant, and it was apparent that tenant expected to retain her rent-controlled status. Landlord didn't give tenant her first rent-stabilized lease until two years after the relocation. And Rent and Eviction Regulations Section 2200.15 voids any agreement where tenant waives the benefits of the law.

97 Brooklyn Avenue: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. YA220020RO (11/30/10) [6-pg. doc.]