Puzzling Rent Regulation Situation

[moot-scrip]

First off - in my many years of intermittently researching this issue, I hadn't yet found this site & forum. Truly amazing resources here!

I have a really puzzling situation with my apartment. I suspect I need to go to a lawyer to really understand what's going on, but I wondered if anyone might have insight.

I live in a large pre-war building in Brooklyn (84 units); I've occupied my unit since December 2013. My previous landlord always issued rent increases in line with rent stabilization guidelines, although I was told at lease signing "the building isn't actually rent stabilized." Whatever - it was fair rent, I was moving to the city for work on three weeks' notice.

That said, something always felt off. I did some research around 2015 and noted that the building was listed as destabilized due to co-op conversion in the late 80s. Okay, but no one (seriously, no one) except for the landlord actually owns their unit. We're all technically subletting sponsored units. The building is currently listed as Rent Regulated on HPDOnline, but was not registered with HCR until this year.

We started to have serious issues with responses to maintenance requests in 2019. I requested the unit's rental history from DHCR to see if just maybe we were rent regulated tenants after all and could leverage those protections to force repair work. I had a very bad experience with my last landlord in Boston (who attempted to illegally evict us to sell the building), so I'm very wary of starting trouble without significant protections.

The report listed the unit's initial registration as Rent Controlled with an occupant in 1984, then *RENT CONTROL - REG NOT REQUIRED* for every subsequent year, up to and including 2019. I'm unclear what this means. Obviously I am not the tenant from 1984, but my understanding is after his departure, the unit should have been moved from rent controlled to rent stabilized (well, until the "conversion").

The building was sold last summer. As part of the sale, I and the other tenants received a copy of the original offering plan and other paperwork on the building's value, finances, etc. The documents seem to show that ALL of the units were sponsored units on conversion. The only co-op board members were the landlord and a lawyer. Again - no idea if this makes the conversion/deregulation illegal, and what rights that gives tenants.

I and some other tenants were under the impression that any co-op building sale by a sponsor requires a new offering plan so tenants in sponsored units can purchase their units if desired; we asked and we were told by the new landlord that the state AG's office had a backlog (probably true!) but that the offering plan would be forthcoming. We're still waiting.

Meanwhile, a number of other tenants reported that their lease renewals came with very high rent increases ($500-$800/month), and many people left the building as a result. I've monitored Streeteasy, and the landlord is attempting to rent those vacant units for about $500 more than I currently pay.

Our 2023 renewal included a reasonable increase ($75), but the landlord is just sketchy. I reported a hot water outage affecting the entire left side of the building (after five days of no hot water, with us contacting the landlord and super every day) to 311. I had to report twice, as my anonymous report resulted in a close-out with no fix. When I reported with my information attached, I got a call from 311 to confirm the issue was fixed the next day (it was), and then a call from my landlord asking me "not to involve the city in these things."

Maintenance issues continue (I'm currently working at home waiting for my super to fix yet another water issue). I'm pretty sure we have more than a few violations of the warranty of habitability at this point, but again, I've always been worried about causing trouble - my husband is disabled and moving would be costly and difficult. The new landlords got screwed on the sale - there was a ton of deferred maintenance and the previous landlord basically gave up on the building when the pandemic started, so I get that they may just be trying to cover repair costs - but that's the job.

I'm worried our renewal this year will come with a huge increase - which I might even pay if they'd agree to repairs and upgrades to make the unit worth that amount - but this situation feels so off at this point, I'm wary of agreeing to anything without clarity on exactly what is going on with my apartment and what my rights are. On the other hand, I might be on a list of "troublemakers who know too much" and will just be quietly ignored on all fronts (maintenance needs and otherwise) until I give up and leave.

Is my best bet just to take all my documents to a lawyer? Is it even worth it if I'm not sure what my rent increase will be yet? I'm thinking of going to a lawyer to get advice on requesting improvements at renewal anyway, for what that's worth.

Thanks for getting this far in reading this saga, and thank you for any suggestions!

[TenantNet]

Let's start at paragraphs 1 and 2 for now. I haven't read the rest yet.

First, there is no such thing as a rent regulated building. Individual units within a building may be RS, but some might be RC and some might be deregulated. You wouldn't call it an unregulated building if it contained a mix of RC, RS and deregulated units, would you?

You say the LL gave increases in-line with RGB percentages. Well, that's nice, but that in itself doesn't make your unit RS ... and it's a favorite way for LL's to lure tenants in and then hit them with some massive increase. They might say, "What did you expect? We told you it wasn't RS." And what exactly is a "fair rent?" I have a feeling what you might have thought was fair, was nothing but crap.

I haven't read the rest of your book, but it seems you got a rent history from DHCR. These show the history of registrations, but understand that is just what the LL has reported to DHCR over time, and has as much truthfulness as Donald Trump. So while it might have some good evidence, treat it as a skeptic would. You can also research your unit in other ways, see if any cases were brought for your unit or for the entire building. Talk to your neighbors. Get the names of people and research any LL cases they may have had over the years. You're not being nosy; your doing research on your unit and the building, and most of the information is public available to anyone.

3. Check NYSCEF at https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/HomePage
This won't have every court case, but it has a lot. Do searches based the parties' name, management co,. tenants, corporate name and so on. Also search on the lawyer the LL uses the most.

You want more and more information.

4. Check ZOLA at https://zola.planning.nyc.gov
Much good information here, especially links to ACRIS, DOB and HPD on the right side. Dig deep.

5. Understand that the practice of LL's lying to tenants on the status of the units is very widespread.

6. If there was a coop and you are tenants of shareholders and not tenants who were in place when the conversion took place, you might be out of luck. Still get the Black Book from the NYS Attorney General's office. Be aware that shareholders are often called tenants as they rent from the corporation. If you rent from a shareholder, then you are considered sub-tenants.

More later ... that's good to start.

[TenantNet]

Continuing...

So you say you have the rent history. RC units were required to registered once, in 1984 and not in later years. OTOH, RS units are required to be registered every years by July 31 of each year.

No matter what happened, the coop conversion essentially meant that while RS tenants in occupancy kept their RS status, new tenants coming in after the conversion were not RC or RS.

It seems you have the Black Book, and we do not know if everything was proper. As to what may be required on a subsequent sale of the building, I guess that means the unsold sponsor shares we sold to someone else. I don't know that the laws or regulations say on that ... that's where an experienced attorney can come in handy.

Being listed as RS on the HPD website, we would have to see it. If you don't mind, you can send us the address/borough by Private Mail.

That it might have been registered with DHCR, again, we would have to see it. Did you mean the building, the units or both are now registered with DHCR?

As for repairs, you are covered by the Warranty of Habitability no matter if you are RC, RS or unregulated. It depends on what is broken or unrepaired.

OTOH, there are Essential Services (RC) and Required Services (RS) that can be required to be maintained. It also depends on what's in your lease and what actually exists in your building. Sorting all that out is a longer explanation.

As I said above, RC units were required to be registered once, in 1984 and then not again, and that explains the gap. Do you know when the RC left and what tenants had occupancy in what years? Whether a unit can go to unregulated status after being RC, that's murky.

Since 2019, what does the DHCR registration say for your unit?

On the legality of the conversion, you'll have to check with an attorney or specialists who specializes in coops. We don't.

"I and some other tenants were under the impression that any co-op building sale by a sponsor requires a new offering plan so tenants in sponsored units can purchase their units if desired"

I don't know. Again, check with a specialist. Do not trust the LL/sponsor.

Streeteasy may give you an indication of what the LL is doing, but Streeteasy is notorious for misinformation, so beware.

If a LL tells you not to call 311, that in our book is harassment and intimidation. It's an attempt to have you waive your rights and is as illegal as Trump asking people to ignore the state electors. I would make recordings of all such calls. If HHW isn't back on the same day, then make complaints. Albeit understand that 311 is often a joke itself. This like HHW do not depend on your being RC/RS.

No one forced LLs to buy the building and they must perform due diligence as to state of maintenance.

I would continue to do more research on your unit. Get more evidence so when/if you decide to file, you'll have a better chance. But understand the laws are not good for tenants on this, Construct as much of a history as you can and document every tenant and every increase.

You can certainly check with an attorney, but make sure it's a tenant attorney. But remember that while some of your rights to maintenance may depend on your status, for basic things as you've described, that applies to ALL tenants.

For example, under RS, if the LL has provided a swimming pool since on or after the base date (1974), they are required to continue to do so. That's a Required Service. For unregulated tenants, that would be in your lease. And services are not always the same as required maintenance. A doorman is a service; HHW is a service AND an item needing repairs. But unless your LL wants to nitpick, don't get caught-up on the differences all that much.

BYW, we made some changes in our first reply.