Formerly Rent Stablzd Apt Back on the Market after 18yrs!?

[robleau]

i just moved into a new apartment that was formerly rent stabilized (as reported to DCHR) and was never re rented and stayed off the market for 18 years!!! (i dont know why) and then got put back on the market and im the first renter after the 18 years, how is the initial rent suppose to be determined to that new tenant? Feel like the landlord decided on an amount to charge and thats what i paid, the current rent is over the legal amount to destabilize the apt but im not sure it was initially determined accurately and legally, I was never told the apt was formerly rent stabilized or anything, found out through DCHR records --just dont know if the rent was legally calculated. How would rent be calculated for an apt thats been off the market for so long? (just based off of years off the market,not counting any improvements)
for calculating purposes if you want to help in your comment lets say the last reported rent 18 years ago was $350.

please help cant find any info on this long of a lag from tenant to tenant

[TenantNet]

There are a number of situations that are common here .... it might have been used by a building employee, or it might have been used by the owner or family member. Or it might have just been empty. Or the LL is lying and it was used by RS or RC tenants at much lower rent.

I'd ask neighbors to see what really went on.

DHCR allows for "temporarily exempt" units and "permanently exempt" units. With the latter, it might be considered deregulated. With temp exempt (i.e., super's residence), it would come back as a RS unit.

Here's are some document that treats these situations:
http://www.nyshcr.org/rent/policystatements/orap897.pdf

http://www.nyshcr.org/Rent/FactSheets/orafac5.pdf

and a court case:
http://cases.justia.com/new-york/other- ... 1432242720

I found those just by Googling "dhcr temporarily exempt" - you can find more.

There are many cases where apts are treated as exempt in order to avoid rent stab coverage. I would start digging around on the facts of your situation, i.e., dates, what happened, etc. Get a rent history from DHCR (that's important). At a certain point you might want an assessment from a tenant attorney, one that has experience in this sort of stuff.

[robleau]

Thank You! This is great information, I will keep digging!