Hi, my landlord ignored my request at lease signing for the required DHCR rider showing how the legal rent was calculated for my vacancy lease. I then obtained the DHCR records which show missing registrations in the prior year before the vacancy and this year, and show that the apartment was registered ( as rent stabilized) with a rent which is much less than my "preferential rent" or what the landlord is claiming as the "legal rent" on the lease in the last year the apartment was registered.
My rent is still substantially below the $2700 threshold, so it couldn't have possibly been de-stabilized during the registration gap. There have been no MCI improvements, so any increase must be based on the vacancy allowance and IAI improvements.
For the landlord to have increased the legal rent by that much in 1 year, even with the vacancy increase the landlord would have to be claiming over $20,000 in apartment improvements. Such a figure seems extremely implausible, especially given the failure to provide the required rider or register the apartment during this period. If the landlord actually somehow spent $20,000, why didn't he provide any proof?
The landlord appears to have done the work himself anyway, as it does not look like the work of a professional contractor. How would you all advise I proceed here? Is there any way I can force the landlord to provide the DHCR Rider as required by law showing how the rent was calculated so I can see if I have an overcharge case before filing one?
Or should I just immediately file an overcharge claim to allow DHCR to determine whether the increase was lawful? Or should I instead a complaint for the failure to provide a rider. Or would it be best to make some kind of formal demand that the landlord provide the required rider first before proceeding? Thanks.