I recently received rent history from DHCR for my RS unit and I’m confused.
To start, I moved in last summer (2015). Using slightly fudged numbers:
Legal rent: $2,534
Previous legal rent: $2,100
Preferential rent: $1,700
Vacancy increase: $407
IAI increase $42
Before I moved in, they replaced the kitchen appliances (they claimed cabinets too, but not true… cabinets are old and scuffed up) and did some electrical work. After cost of parts and labor, the total IAI rent increase (1/60th) was listed as $34 for the kitchen and $8 for the electrical work..
Now the legal rent is over $2,500. Here’s where the confusion comes in. According to the rent history, the legal rent in 2007 was $900. Then a new person moved in in 2008, and it jumped up to $1,500… (hard to imagine they did a bunch of improvements in 2007 and then did so again in 2015). The legal rent jumps again from $1,500 in 2008 to the aforementioned $2,100 in 2013.
Other notes: The same tenant lived in the unit from 2000 (legal rent $800) to 2007 (legal rent $900… she signed some 2-year leases). Next tenant from 2008 (legal rent $1,500) to 2012 (legal rent $1,700). Tenant before me from 2013 (legal rent $2,100) to 2015. Another note: Starting in 2013, a preferential rent of $1,500 is listed for the tenant before me, who signed a 2-year lease. He paid $1,500 in 2013 and 2014, and my rent is $1,700.
So how did the legal rent jump from $900 to over $2,500 in 8 years? Does that sound legally possible?
Thanks for any direction you can give. Although I doubt there's anything I can do at this stage, since the chicanery started over 4 years ago.