I am currently in an apartment with "preferred" rent in a RS (J-51 abatement) building, but the unit is supposedly de-regulated.
I obtained the history from DHCR and found the following:
2010: ~$8XX rent RS (Tenant 1)
2011: ~$2,1XX rent (Vacancy/New tenant - Tenant 2)
2012: ~$2,2XX RS (Tenant 2)
2013: ~2,3XX RS (Tenant 2)
2014: ~2,3XX RS (Tenant 2)
2015: ~2,4XX RS (Tenant 2) -- Vacancy
The legal rent was indicated to me as $2,9XX. That makes sense to me based on a 20% increase Tenant 2 moved out.
What I'm trying to figure out was whether the increase from ~$8XX to $2,100 was justified. 20% vacancy increase (if that was the % in 2011) would be to $1K. There was a relatively significant renovation, but I understand the formula is 1/40th of the cost. Meaning if the increase was ~$11XX, it would mean the renovation cost would be ~44K which would be high for a studio unit.
Can anyone here provide guidance if that is the correct calculation? Is there any way to validate whether there are any issues here without asking for documentation of the cost of the renovations (which would presumably tip off the landlord)?