Previous tenant rent-controlled (205usd) -> my status?

[Thino]

Two years ago I moved to New York and found a nice apartment in Soho. The rent is very high (4000 usd), but I wanted to indulge in the NYC experience.
I signed a standard lease contract, no attachments or extra provisions. My landlord was constantly bragging that he spend 100k to renovate the apartment. This sounded quite steep, for a 700 sq ft apart with quite basic amenities.

Two months ago my landlord called me, he wanted to raise the rent with 500 USD. Although he has the right to do this, I got quite angry. There were a lot of problems with the building in the first two years, I was always helpful, and now he just scr*wed me.

I decided to do some digging, and found out that the previous tenant paid 205 usd. I got the information through the division of housing and community renewal.
It is stated that in 1984 the tenant paid 205 usd, the following years were not recorded.
I was next tenant, after the previous one died.

Now my questions:
- WHat is the status of the apartment currently? Is this consider rent-stabilized?
- If I determine what the rent now should be, based on the 0.6% per year rule, the 100$ addition because of the rent being below 300 usd. The rent without improvments should be 443 USD.
- Would anyone think I have anyone chance, if I go to a lawyer? The landlord clearly wasn't informing me as he should about the status of my apartment. But he could come up with a story on how he improved the apartment.

[TenantNet]

Normally RC rents can go up by 7.5% per year (Max. Collectible Rent or MCR), but there's a cap that's adjusted every two years (Max. Base Rent or MBR). So if the MBR is 14%, the first year increase would be 7.5% and the second year increase would be limited to 6.5%. RC tenants are also subject to fuel surcharges, calculated separately from the rent.

While the 7.5% increase can be sharp, on a base of $205 with today's rents, it's not much at all.

The first tenant after a rent controlled tenant is supposed to get the Fair Market Rent Appeal notice. See http://www.nyshcr.org/Rent/FactSheets/orafac6.pdf

Chances are you never got the FMRA. If that's the case, you can still file that appeal.

In some instances the next tenant would be RS; in other cases the next tenant would be completely deregulated, but it might depend on a number of factors, not only if the LL has spent sufficient money where the resulting rent would be above the trigger level (which would have been $2500 in your cas 2 years ago).

Cases can get complicated depending if the LL really spent a lot of money on renovation. When you moved in did you get a DHCR informational rider with a detail of how the money was sent? Perhaps not.

So you might be able to challenge the status, the level of rent AND a possible significant overcharge.

There are too many variables to cover here. What I suggest is that you consult with a tenant attorney who has handled FMRA cases.

[BubbaJoe123]

As someone who has been in a similar situation (first tenant in an apartment following the death of a RC tenant, initial rent well above the RS ceiling), I can second the recommendation that you talk to an attorney who knows FMRA. I did, and the message I got back was that, unless I could show that the rent I paid on moving in was way out of line with the market (essentially, that I got suckered), it wouldn't be worth my time (or attorney's fees) going forward.

$4k for a newly-renovated 700sqft apt in SOHO doesn't sound that out of line with the market.

One thing to look into - as I recall, the rules changed in 2014, to require the LL to provide a HRVD notice to the first post-RC tenant (http://www.nyshcr.org/Rent/RentCodeAmen ... D-N-SJ.pdf), so, if they didn't provide that, it might help your case. Prior to 2014, I don't believe it was required.

http://www.nyshcr.org/Rent/FactSheets/orafac6.pdf

[Thino]

I never got any rider, so that would make my case good.
The rent though is pretty much in line with what other people are paying in the neighbourhood.

Does the 1/40 rule for improvements also hold for rent-controlled appartments?

[BubbaJoe123]

"The rent though is pretty much in line with what other people are paying in the neighbourhood."

In that case, it sounds like a very tough case. Unless you can show that the fair market rent for the apartment was below $2500 when you moved in, then the FMRA will fail (as I understand the law/regulation), since the apt would have been appropriately deregulated. Assuming you originally moved in 2013 or early 2014 (you say you've been there two years), then the failure to include the notice when you moved in just means that your opportunity to file a FMRA hasn't passed (if you get the notice when you move in, there's a 90 day clock).

I don't believe that the IAI rule is going to be relevant here, unless the LL can't sustain the claim that the fair market rent when you moved in wouldn't have been over $2500 without adding in the cost of improvements (i.e. if the fair market rent had been $2000, and the LL could show he put $20k into the place, then it would be relevant, unless Altman goes retroactive).

Again, I recommend you take this case to a tenant lawyer, but, from what I've learned, and what you describe here, I'm skeptical that you're going to get very far.