Lease renewal form with LOWER rent

[jpb5028]

Sorry for the long post but we are having some strange dealings with our landlord and our lease renewal form and we could really use some advice!

My girlfriend and I have a rent stabilized studio, with a preferential rent of ~$1300/month.

The lease expires on 9/30/15. On 6/30/15 we received a lease renewal form with a lower PR than our current rent ~$1200/month. Also, an additional security deposit was required for $15. We signed 2 copies of the lease renewal form, included the additional security deposit, and sent this in within 60 days. We also included an additional form (though I can't remember what it was) that we had notarized.

The landlord cashed my security deposit check two weeks later, and returned one of the copies of the renewal form. This had been dated...though it was not signed by the landlord...

Last week, we received a letter claiming that the landlord had never received our renewal form, and our lease was set to expire in 2 weeks. We spoke to the LL's secretary (since every attempt to see or contact him has failed) who told us that 'he probably just clicked the wrong button'. We requested a signed copy of the renewal form. The following day, we received October's rent bill for a new PR amount, $15 more than our current rent.

Revisiting the secretary, we requested our signed renewal form again, and showed her a copy of the original that they returned to us. This evening, we received a letter stating that the renewal form they mailed on 6/30/15 had mistakes for the rent amounts, and a new renewal form was attached with the PR from our newest bill. This new renewal form was backdated to 6/30/15, the date of the original, even though they did not give it to us until 9/18/15.

So, first they claimed they never received the renewal form, and then we got a letter with a falsified date, saying the form they received had mistakes.

My question is...what can we do? I have read that the renewal agreement can be considered effective from the date the landlord receives it, whether or not they return a signed copy. So is the original lower rent what we should be paying?

They obviously received the first form because they cashed my check, and have the original notarized form on file. This new form states our higher rent goes into effect on 10/1/15 (13 days from now..), though the law states 90 days from receipt.

Any help or thoughts? Is there any legal basis for paying the original lower renewal rent?

[TenantNet]

Let's back up. First, please do not put exact amounts of your lease on a post. That is personal information that your LL can use to identify you. Please edit and correct your post.

Second, as you are probably aware, the RGB for all leases commencing on or after 10/1/15 is 0% for a one-year renewal, and 2% for a 2-year renewal. So given those percentages, if the LL charging more than what's allowed? What percentages is he using? And check your lease or PR rider. Often RGB increases should be applied to the PR rent, not the legal rent.

As for preferential rent (PR), do you have a PR rider attached to your lease? What does it say?

Is the LL trying to end the PR rent? You would have gotten a notice to that effect. The legality of doing so depends on wht the original lease says, the PR rider and how previous renewals and registrations too place.

If you had been paid-up with your deposit, any increase for that is also limited by the RGB percentages.

For the future, in general you do not have to - and should not - sign any other form, notarized or not. There might be exceptions, but that would depend on what it is.

And speaking of what it is, you don't remember? ALWAYS keep copies of everything you send in. No exceptions, ever. If you're sloppy, you'll get hurt. Copy everything you receive, INCLUDING envelopes with postmarks. When sending mail, always use certified mail or Certificate of Mailing (a bit cheaper). But for a lease, it must be certified, no exceptions.

When you don't have certified receipts, you can't prove you sent it.

Now, not knowing if your rent is correct or not, a LL can allow for a mistake if it's caught within a reasonable time (as here). But it should not be backdated IMO. Read the back of the RTP-8 for for explicit instructions. And it should be correct.

The renewal is on a RTP-8 form, right?

I can't tell you what the correct legal or PR ought to be without seeing your lease and all renewals. You'll have to figure that out.

[jpb5028]

Thanks for the reply. I've edited the post to take out our actual rent.

This is all PR we're talking about, which they are not ending. They sent us a lease renewal with a PR that is lower than our current PR, never returned us a signed copy, and are now claiming (~75 days later, 2 weeks before our lease expires), that the document was a mistake.

Our original lease rider states that the LL may increase our rent to the legal regulated rent upon renewal. However, it also states

If the owner does not return a copy of such fully executed Renewal Lease Form to the tenant within 30 days of receiving the signed renewal lease from the tenant, the tenant is responsible for payment of the new lease rent and may file a "Tenant's Complaint of Owner's Failure....

What I'm more curious about, is the legality of the newest, edited, lease renewal offer. This case, http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/ ... _26093.htm, states that :

A rent-stabilized lease renewal offer, sent by the owner, is binding upon the owner even where the owner claims that it was sent unintentionally....."Petitioner is not saved by his assertion that the tender of a lease renewal offer to respondent tenant was a mere clerical error, and thus by the implication that he did not intend to offer respondent tenant a renewal of the lease for the subject premises"

I found a few other court cases that have similar conclusions...that the signing of a lease renewal by the tenant is binding. However, I have also heard cases of the DRHC siding with the LL.

So, should we be paying the original LR offer (as stated in our lease) instead of signing the updated, edited (and falsely backdated) form? Would this hold up in court? We cannot prove the original form was received, except for the fact that the LL cashed my additional security deposit, which was sent along with the renewal form.

I'm quite unsure how to proceed here. All help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[TenantNet]

You say the PR is not ending, nor is the LL trying a partial PR end.

You say the LL made a mistake, but has found it and corrected it, and that was done prior to the commencement of the renewal lease.

There is a thing called rescission, similar to mistake. The ability to correct it can depend on how fast it was found, i.e., reasonable.

The case you cite is a Civil Court case, so it's not controlling.

Here's one discussion on this:
http://www.tenant.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3457
AND read both pages
I didn't read all of that, but look through it. It should probably provide some guidance.

[whoknewthis]

From your OP, it seems like you signed and sent your renewal back before the landlord discovered the mistake. We have an offer from the landlord, which was sending you the original lease, and you accepted the offer by signing and sending the lease back. The original lease renewal is binding and the landlord cannot alter his offer after you have accepted it. You technically are only bound by the original lease, and you can file a complaint with DHCR for Owner's Failure to Returned a Countersigned Lease. Hopefully you have proof of mailing the lease back, but depositing the security deposit check may be sufficient.

HOWEVER: That is the legal analysis, but is this a wise course of action? That depends. Do you plan on staying past this term of this renewal? If so, getting technical over a couple of bucks doesn't seem like a good idea, since your landlord may pull your preferential on your next renewal. Not to mention that your landlord may see things differently and bring you to court for non-payment of rent. You would win, but is this really worth a couple bucks? Why shoot across the landlord's bow over such a small issue?