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Rent Increase after Landlord received ERAP.

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

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Rent Increase after Landlord received ERAP.

Postby lawful tenant » Thu Jun 16, 2022 4:08 am

Landlord received ERAP payment in November 2021.
Lease expired on January 31,2022

New Lease Renewal has the regular RGB rent increase for 2022.

As I understood Landlord is not allowed to increase the rent for 1 year after receiving ERAP.

Am I missing something?

Do I sign the lease?

Thank you.
lawful tenant
 
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Re: Rent Increase after Landlord received ERAP.

Postby TenantNet » Thu Jun 16, 2022 5:22 am

There are a lot of confusing things going on with ERAP, and to be honest, the state has no clue what is going on. They hired a private company from Indiana to run the program and most of the people working on this have little training with LL-Tenant issues. I've heard some horror stories. ERAP does not have the training, and probably the jurisdiction to deal with things related to rent, other than getting the money out the door. On top of that, I've heard of LLs ignoring the rules, claiming more money than legally permitted, taking money for rent already paid and ignoring the one-year prohibition against taking tenants to court.

And it that's not bed enough, judges are ignoring the rules as well.

But remember, ERAP is supposed to be a program to cover rent the tenant did not pay. It has nothing to do with the rent listed in your RS lease. I think what that means is while the rent may increase on the lease itself, the LL can't collect more at this time, for the one year.

The problem is that all this is still developing and no one really knows the answers. Lawyers don't know and judges don't know. There are only a few cases or even Appellate decisions to guide how things are supposed to work.

If the lease is otherwise correct, I'd probably go along with it. But remember, we don't know everything either. If in doubt, check with a tenant attorney.
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Re: Rent Increase after Landlord received ERAP.

Postby lawful tenant » Mon Jun 20, 2022 3:28 am

"But remember, ERAP is supposed to be a program to cover rent the tenant did not pay. It has nothing to do with the rent listed in your RS lease. I think what that means is while the rent may increase on the lease itself, the LL can't collect more at this time, for the one year."

As per this article, it appears that you are wrong:

https://cbs6albany.com/news/local/nys-l ... assistance
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Re: Rent Increase after Landlord received ERAP.

Postby TenantNet » Mon Jun 20, 2022 8:11 am

First, you must be kidding. This is a joke, right. The absolute last source to cite would be coming from a local television station. A major daily (Albany Times Union, NY Times), perhaps. Better would be the NY Law Journal, or perhaps others that actually have reporters that understand this stuff. Have you ever looked at the depth of understanding or 30 second reporting coming from the brains of local Ron Burgundys? They get a press release from a politician and for the most part, just regurgitate the contents.

Second, this is a local Albany station (byline says Syracuse), where they don't have rent regulation. This is the Rent Regulated area of the forum.

Third, I was making a point between the collectible rent and the legal rent. There are many instances where the two can differ, i.e., preferential rents, units under rent reductions, SCRIE tenants, and now ERAP.

As I stressed, this is a developing area with few decided cases. Things can, and are likely to change. And I suggest you check with a tenant attorney. Sure, I can be wrong, which is why I hedged a bit on this.

So find me an Appellate Court (or Court of Appeals) decision, and things would be much more clear. And even those decisions, while seemingly answering one question, open up others. Look at Grimm, Stuytown, Regina ... they leave many questions unanswered.

So if your LL actually tries to collect a higher rent, then tell him/her/it about ERAP and the prohibition and stand by your guns. But on a lease, that's different. So get me something that's authoritative.

Here's an example of the confusion in all of this. You're in RS tenant in NYC. Your lease expires on 3/31/22 and normally a new lease would commence on 4/1/22 with whatever the appropriate RGB increase is. The LL must offer you a new lease 90-150 days prior to the expiration of the current lease. At 90 days, that means January 1st. Now it doesn't matter so much when you applied for ERAP, but let's say it's not granted and the LL isn't paid until 6/1/22. So the one year where they can't "raise" the rent goes through 5/31/23. And, BTW, this all means they can't take you to court for not paying a higher amount. They can (and will) still harass you in private.

I understand tenants might wish to say that because of ERAP your lease can not go up, but with this set of facts, the freeze starts on 6/1/22 and that would be after the RS increase took place. But scramble the dates around. Say the LL got the ERAP money on 4/1/22 and the renewal lease does not take effect until 6/1/22. There, it might be more clear, but can you "write" ERAP into a lease? What to do if the lease is for two years? On a lease offer, do you say the rent is frozen for 12 months, then goes up after that, but how do you account for the RGB increases? Would that constitute an impermissible "private side agreement" between the LL and tenant? Those can be illegal.See Riverside vs. Munroe.

And of course it depends on what months you did not pay rent. Let's say you didn't pay rent from 1/1/21 through 3/31/22 (15 months). But let's say you had withheld rent for 6 months back in 2019 because you had no heat (a very good reason). You earmarked all your checks (wrote in the memo field what months they were for to make sure the LL did not apply current rent to months that had been past due. Do you think the people administering the ERAP program make any attempt to sort through all that? I know they do not. They simply take the rent (as reported by the LL, legal or not), multiply it by 15 (if you applied for 15 months) and say it applies to all that even if you had actually paid for some of those months. This is about the politics of getting the money shoveled out the door.

Doesn't it make sense for your monthly rent bill (and what you pay) to reflect the no increase policy, than have a lease do the same? Otherwise it can be mind-boggling for both the LL and the tenant.
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Re: Rent Increase after Landlord received ERAP.

Postby TenantNet » Mon Jun 20, 2022 8:33 am

What we try to do is give you correct information, even if we disagree with it.

Poking around on the net is such a wonderful thing. You will likely see "fact sheets" coming from landlord law firms on all this, but usually that's their spin. So always know the source.

Now, with DHCR, it's often hard to say they more or less operate as LL advocates, but still, courts will usually "defer to their deference."

Having said that, see https://hcr.ny.gov/office-rent-administration-ora.

1) Can owners who receive ERAP assistance for a rent stabilized apartment increase the rent?

For rent stabilized units receiving ERAP, lawful rent increases are allowed to be preserved in the lease, but landlords must follow ERAP guidelines and agree to not increase the monthly rental amount above the monthly amount due at the time of application for ERAP assistance for months for which the rental assistance is received and for one year from receipt of the ERAP payment. Owners are advised by DHCR to send a letter to the tenant at the time ERAP payments begin and attach an explanatory rider at the time of the lease renewal. The rider should clarify that a lower rent is being charged pursuant to an ERAP directive and that the higher legal rent cannot be collected during the period of the ERAP rent freeze. The higher legal rent that was in the lease can be collected only when the ERAP rent freeze expires. It is unlawful for an owner to demand arrears from the tenant, in a lump sum or in any other manner, for the difference between the higher legal rent and the lower rent for the period that the ERAP rent freeze was in effect.

2) How does an owner register the rent(s) for the rent stabilized apartment on the ARRO annual apartment registration online form?

In the Legal Regulated Rent field, a rent can be entered that includes all lawful rent increases, including lease renewal, IAI, and MCI, even if they are not being collected due to the receipt of ERAP assistance. In the Other Adjustments - Other field, “ERAP” can be entered. In the Actual Payment by Tenant field, the lower rent that is actually being paid can be entered.
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