Challenging Individual Apartment Increases

[MarinaM]

Hey - hope I'm not posting a question that has already been answered-

My roommate and I moved into an apartment 6 months ago that was renovated within the last year or two. At the lease signing, we were served a notice that the apartment which was previously rent stabilized had been deregulated to ask about $700 more per month because of Individual Apartment Improvements.

However, the longer we've lived here, the more we are beginning to doubt that the amount of work they claimed to do was actually done (or cost what they say it did). We are not hard on the apartment by any means, but things keep breaking and our super is frequently frustrated with the "shoddy" work. The renovation costs * 1/40 was just enough to bring it above the rent qualifying for deregulation. We're leasing from a large management company that doesn't like to answer questions about permits, basement occupancy legality, or much regarding regulation/safety measures at all, so I'm sure I'm not going to get a straight answer from them.

Can we challenge the renovation costs? Would we file a Rent Overcharge Application or a different kind of inquiry/application?

I'd appreciate any guidance as the NYC DHCR paperwork is a little tricky to navigate!

[TenantNet]

The IAI scam is widespread.

DHCR doens't consider if the work is shoddy in any challenge to the IAI ... and challenge to the deregulation. The consider if it was done, and if it was paid for.

Talk to your neighbors and see if any have had similar experiences. Do as much research as possible.

Perhaps others might chime in - but this has been discussed many times on the forum.