Two-Unit Building Was Part of Horizontal Multiple Dwelling

New landlord asked the DHCR for a ruling on whether tenant of his two-unit building was rent regulated. The DRA ruled for landlord and declared that tenant wasn't rent controlled or rent stabilized. Tenant appealed and won. Tenant had lived in the building since 1967 and currently paid $535 per month in rent. The DRA correctly determined that tenant wasn't rent controlled because the building was completed on June 21, 1951, after the Feb. 1, 1947, base date. The DRA also had found that tenant wasn't rent stabilized because the building contained fewer than six apartments.

But the building had been part of a horizontal multiple dwelling with more than six units. The buildings were later converted into two-family homes and sold to different owners. Pursuant to Rent Stabilization Law (RSL) Section 2-505, multiple family garden-type maisonnette dwelling complexes with common facilities were subject to rent stabilization on the May 6, 1968, base date. Selling off a portion of the complex didn't remove the now two-unit building from rent stabilization. The related buildings were owned by the same owner since at least the 1980s, and landlord's building was transferred to a private individual in 2003. Also, the building was continuously registered as rent stabilized between 1985 and 2013. The prior landlord also gave tenant rent-stabilized renewal leases between 1989 and 2005. 

Ackerman: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. AV120052RT (5/9/14) [4-pg. doc.]