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Am I being overcharged

NYC Rent Regulation: Rent Control/Rent Stabilized, DHCR Practice/Procedures

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Am I being overcharged

Postby homeplease » Sat May 20, 2017 6:56 pm

Hello

I moved into a new rent stabilized place this month. I am paying almost 2k. I requested a history from the city, and received some info today. It shows that in 2008 the rent was 535, followed by a year registered as vacant, followed by a new lease of 1300. There have been a few tenants through since 2010 for some reason I can't understand....

Am I being overcharged based on the 2010 jump? It sure looks like a massive jump.

Any thoughts welcome. I will hire a lawyer!

Thanks

HP
homeplease
 
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Re: Am I being overcharged

Postby TenantNet » Sat May 20, 2017 8:04 pm

If you requested a rent history from DHCR, that's the state govt, not the city.

With a rent history, you will need to look at each increase and see why there were increases. Usually it's a RGB renewal increase (if a tenant renews) or vacancy increase. You will need to look at what the RGB allowable percentages were in the year the increase took place.

In some cases it might be an Individual Apt Improvement (IAI) during a vacancy, or a building-wide Major Capital Improvement at any time.

And in many cases, it's just fraud from the landlord, hoping to scam a new tenant.

You will need to scrutinize every increase and keep asking questions. I would not be to vocal about it at this point to the LL. Don't let him know you're looking.

Also remember, unless there's a clear indication of fraud, the statute of limitations for RS overcharges is four years. So generally you can't go back past this date in 2013. But if you can show fraud, they can look further back.

As for the big jump, say from 500 to 1300, consider that a new tenant would pay a 20% vacancy increase and maybe a longevity increase. Look at the RGB order for that year. Then for the rest of the jump, if the LL spends $20,000 to improve an apartment, he can increase the rent by 1/40th or $500. See if there were improvements that could amount to those figures.

Start at [url=If you requested a rent history from DHCR, that's the state govt, not the city.

With a rent history, you will need to look at each increase and see why there were increases. Usually it's a RGB renewal increase (if a tenant renews) or vacancy increase. You will need to look at what the RGB allowable percentages were in the year the increase took place.

In some cases it might be an Individual Apt Improvement (IAI) during a vacancy, or a building-wide Major Capital Improvement at any time.

And in many cases, it's just fraud from the landlord, hoping to scam a new tenant.

You will need to scrutinize every increase and keep asking questions. I would not be to vocal about it at this point to the LL. Don't let him know you're looking.

Also remember, unless there's a clear indication of fraud, the statute of limitations for RS overcharges is four years. So generally you can't go back past this date in 2013. But if you can show fraud, they can look further back.

As for the big jump, say from 500 to 1300, consider that a new tenant would pay a 20% vacancy increase and maybe a longevity increase. Look at the RGB order for that year. Then for the rest of the jump, if the LL spends $20,000 to improve an apartment, he can increase the rent by 1/40th or $500. See if there were improvements that could amount to those figures.

Start at http://www.nyshcr.org/Rent/OperationalBulletins/orao20161.pdf
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Re: Am I being overcharged

Postby homeplease » Sat May 20, 2017 8:29 pm

Thanks. Yes, it was DHCR. It will be tricky to get information on renovations done in 2008 but I will try. Overall this building is borderline acceptable, borderline ramshackle. I will post as I progress....
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Re: Am I being overcharged

Postby TenantNet » Sat May 20, 2017 11:34 pm

Talk with your neighbors - they might know what happened. They might also be able to contact previous tenants who can fill in the gaps.
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Re: Am I being overcharged

Postby homeplease » Sun May 21, 2017 10:15 am

Allowing a longevity increase for the tenant prior to 2010 in addition to a 20% vacancy increase would bring the total to 735 or so. In order to get to 1300 as the new lease did, renovations of 23k would have been needed. I don't see 20k of renovations. Old floors, and fixtures. The windows are decent though. One person I spoke to does not remember any renovations of any kind during 2008/2009.
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Re: Am I being overcharged

Postby TenantNet » Sun May 21, 2017 11:11 am

See if other newish tenants faced the same type in increases for alleged work. It's quite common that LLs fake it hoping tenants won't complain in 4 years. You will probably need to establish patters to show fraud.Research the Grimm case (here and on the net ... "grimm DHCR rent stabilization" and similar searches
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