TenantNet Forum

Where tenants can seek help and help others



advice about our rent situation

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

Moderator: TenantNet

advice about our rent situation

Postby WashHeights tenant » Tue Oct 10, 2017 2:31 pm

Need advice or recommendation of a lawyer concerning an issue with my apartment. I have a regular apartment that I have lived in for three years. This year my landlord sent us a rent stabilized lease. This lease values the apartment at 2900.00 and gives us a preferential rate of 2583.00 The problem is that we got the rent history and it seems that the apartment was improperly unstabilized in 2005. The rent then was 858.00 and the following year it was labeled as a high vacancy termination. Which seems to be impossible. Need advice on what we need to do next.
WashHeights tenant
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 2:29 pm

Re: advice about our rent situation

Postby TenantNet » Tue Oct 10, 2017 3:02 pm

A number of tenant attorneys advertise on this site. They usually have a banner at the top of each page (and a few are just on the home page). If you reload the page, a new banner often appears (you might have to do that several times or use CTRL-R to reload. We suggest you look at one of them (It keeps them happy and they will continue to help keep this site up).

You say the LL sent you a RS lease. Had he not done so before? If that's the case, I'd sign and return it (by certified mail) ASAP, and not say anything for now. And you say you have a rent history from DHCR. Normally you can see if they did sufficient work (IAIs) to deregulate the unit (the threshold in 2005 for High Rent deregulation was $2,000).

But since that is more than four years ago, you might not be able to raise the issue even if it was illegally deregulated. You would need to show some fraud in order to get around the 4 year statute of limitations.

So it comes down to what the history shows as the real legal rent, and what you were paying in the first two years you were in the space. Did you not get any preferential rent notice in your first two years? If not, then - assuming the RS status holds - the pref rent could not be enforced.

BTW, there is no such thing as a "high vacancy" termination. It's either high rent, or high income.
The Tenant Network(tm) for Residential Tenants
Information from TenantNet is from experienced non-attorney tenant
activists and is not considered legal advice.

Subscribe to our Twitter Feed @TenantNet
TenantNet
 
Posts: 10306
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2002 2:01 am
Location: New York City

Re: advice about our rent situation

Postby WashHeights tenant » Tue Oct 10, 2017 3:15 pm

it was high rent... based on what I received by the HCR
WashHeights tenant
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2017 2:29 pm

Re: advice about our rent situation

Postby TenantNet » Tue Oct 10, 2017 4:14 pm

The High Rent threshold was $2,000 up until 2011, then it was $2,500 and in 2015 it changed to $2,700. Now it will go up at the same percentage as the RGB.

See the DHCR Fact Sheet on Pref rent. If there was no Pref Rent rider in your first lease, then the LL can use it now. Don't assert any rights in that regard now. Wait until they try to lift it and jump to what they claim is the legal rent.

BTW, Pref Rent is a function of being Rent Stab. If you're not rent stab, there is no such thing as a pref rent.

What an atty will tell you is that while the 4-year statute of limitations is for overcharges, there is no such limitation for Rent Stab status. I would focus on that.
The Tenant Network(tm) for Residential Tenants
Information from TenantNet is from experienced non-attorney tenant
activists and is not considered legal advice.

Subscribe to our Twitter Feed @TenantNet
TenantNet
 
Posts: 10306
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2002 2:01 am
Location: New York City


Return to NYC Rent Regulated Apartments

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 58 guests