Preferential to Legal rent increases

[darknesis]

I re-read DHCR Face Sheet #40, and I tend to agree with you. At best, DHCR is ambiguous on this. Maybe intentionally.

But it's certainly not in my best interest for my rent to be raised 80% to the legal regulated rent. So for now, or at least until the DHCR makes this clear, I'm stuck with high rent increases in a 421-a rent stabilized building, in-between preferential and legal regulated rents.

[TenantNet]

It's important to remember that the way DHCR phrased the fact sheet does not, in itself, have the force of law. It is not a statute, not is it precedential caselaw. I was unable to get DHCR to go on record.

However the inferences that one can draw from the fact sheet are pretty clear -- RGB percentage increases operate on both the LRR and PR. If the LL chooses to maintain the PR, or if he's required to keep the PR, any increase is limited by the RGB percentage. I don't believe he can end the first PR and start a new one just to get around the RGB increase limitation. However, I'm not aware of any court case on this.

I would get a consultation from a tenant attorney who has experience with PR, 421-a and how they work together.

[darknesis]

Thanks for your help with this.

The other question I had -- not sure if I should ask this in a separate thread or not, but happy to move it -- is for a friend of mine. My friend moved into an apartment with a preferential rent (PR) and a legal regulated rent (LRR). The LRR was calculated based on the previous tenant, who was the first occupant of the unit. The LRR increased 20% from the first tenant to my friend, since the original tenant occupied the apartment for 2-years, and my friend signed a 2-year lease.

Now here's where things get tricky.

The original tenant signed a lease with a legal and preferential rent as well. The LRR was nearly 100% higher than the preferential rent, since it was set before the units went to market. It turns out, there was an error in the original tenant's lease, and management was forced to treat the PR as the LRR.

Is there any case for the vacancy increase from the original tenant to my friend to be reduced to 10% instead of 20%, since the previous tenant was originally paying a PR and the vacancy increase for a 2-year PR increase should be 10%?

[darknesis]

It might be best to separate the above question into a separate thread so readers can learn from the discussion more easily.

In any case, regarding preferential rents increasing beyond the RGB allowable increases, I found this:
https://www.landlordvtenant.com/article ... -increases

[TenantNet]

Doesn't say anything; you need the actual decision. And a court could rule the other way.

[darknesis]

Another question: I live in a 421-a building where all apartments are stabilized for 20-years. My lease states both a preferential rent, and a legal rent, however the preferential rent is clearly indicated as "for the duration of tenancy." What happens in 18-years (my building was built 2-years ago) when the 421-a program expires? Will I lose my preferential rent?