Tenant's SCRIE Should Be Based on Legal Regulated Rent, Not Preferential Rent

(Decision submitted by David B. Cabrera of the Manhattan law firm of Borah, Goldstein, Altschuler, Nahins & Goidel, P.C., attorneys for the landlord.)

Westchester County rent-stabilized tenant applied for a Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE). Tenant obtained a SCRIE order stating that 1/3 of tenant's monthly aggregate income was lower than the apartment's legal regulated rent. The order stated that, while the legal regulated rent was $1,736 per month, the collectible rent from tenant under a preferential rent agreement was $1,450 per month. So this was the amount used to set tenant's SCRIE benefits and landlord's monthly tax abatement. Landlord filed a request for reconsideration of the SCRIE, noting that tenant's current lease renewal didn't contain a preferential rent. The DRA ruled against landlord, who appealed and won in part. SCRIE rules provided that if a preferential rent was temporary or for the current lease term only, tenant's rent would be frozen at the prior legal regulated rent. So tenant's collectible rent should be frozen at $1,727, which was the rent in effect under tenant's December 2016 renewal lease, in effect prior to tenant's SCRIE application. 

525-527 Riverdale Avenue Property LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. FR910070RO (2/15/18) [4-pg. doc.]