Found a RS apartment to move into but the rent is too round

[CercleRouge]

What I mean is... I found a very nice Brooklyn apartment that's rent stabilized. The rent is a very round number... $2,000. Now I know from prior experience that RS is never such an even number like that. The RS rent on my last apartment was like $1761.17. The other thing is, the original listed price was $2200 and I negotiated it down to $2000. The lease signing is tomorrow, but clearly this isn't the legal rent.

Now in terms of my financial requirements to rent this place, I kind of juuuuust barely got approved after the landlord had some worries about my finances. I don't necessarily want to mention anything about the actual RS figure before I sign the lease because they could replace me in a second, it's a very in-demand area with very low vacancy. So I plan on signing the lease tomorrow then going straight to 25 Beaver St (can I still go there now that I'm in BK or do I have to go to a BK office?) to check the rent history. Does this sound like a good plan? If I get the rent history and then find out I'm being overcharged (despite not having paid any rent yet), do you think I could get them to drop the rent immediately?

Thank you!

[BubbaJoe123]

Have you received the lease yet - is the $2000 (formerly $2200) a preferential rent?

[TenantNet]

First, please understand that this forum is here to help tenants who are in apartments. It is not here to help new tenants find apartments.

Having said that, you don't have legal standing to make any complaints (other than Fair Housing issues) unless you actually have a lease and are in possession. So while if you think something is not quite right, well you can ask the LL or agent, and chances are you won't get the unit.

The issue you raise is nothing new ... we've raised this many times.

As BJ asks, if this is a preferential rent, then you might see the round numbers. However the real legal rent should be on the lease and the yearly DHCR registration. But if it's not, then that might be good for you, so don't make a fuss. If the LL fails to reserve the real legal rent on the lease or renewals, then he should be prohibited from stopping your lower PR in a few years. So just be quiet about it for the time being. Read and commit to memory the DHCR Fact Sheet on Pref. Rents.

Yes, you can go to 25 Beaver St., near your fancy office .