Landlord applied to the DHCR for exemption from rent stabilization based on substantial rehabilitation of its building. The DRA terminated the proceeding and directed landlord to refile once a permanent Certification of Occupancy had been issued for the building. Landlord appealed and lost. The DHCR rejected landlord’s PAR because it didn’t provide a list of […]

Landlord filed a request with the DHCR in 2024 to amend annual rent registrations for an apartment for the years 2017 to 2024. Landlord asked the DHCR to permanently delete all records pertaining to the apartment because the apartment status changed upon tenant's death, the building had fewer than six units, and was renovated to be removed from the Loft Board.

Landlord filed an Application to Amend Registration with the DHCR in 2024, seeking to amend annual rent registrations for one apartment that landlord claimed were filed in error from 2018 through 2021. Landlord claimed that these registrations mistakenly listed landlord as a tenant in Apt. 3B but should've been registered as "owner occupied–temporarily exempt." After discovering the error, landlord subsequently registered the apartment this way.

Landlord applied in 2024 for permission to amend an apartment's annual rent registrations for 2019, 2020, and 2021. Landlord stated that due to clerical errors it had mistakenly registered the apartment as rent stabilized for those years when the apartment had been legally deregulated in 2009. The DRA ruled against landlord, who appealed and lost. The DHCR pointed out that only clerical errors can be amended under RSC Section 2528.3(c) and that registrations based on the claim that the apartment was previously deregulated was improper.

Rent-controlled tenant complained to the DHCR of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant based on landlord's failure to answer notice of the tenant's complaint, and set the Maximum Collectible Rent (MCR) at $130.38 per month as of Jan. 1, 2024. Landlord appealed, claiming that it never received notice of the complaint and that it first became aware of the administrative proceeding when tenant filed a noncompliance action with the DHCR. Landlord then sought proof of service of the complaint from the DHCR by filing a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request.

Rent-stabilized tenant complained to the DHCR in 2023 of a reduction in required services because gas service to the building had been cut off. Landlord didn't answer the DRA's notice of tenant's complaint. The DRA ruled for tenant and reduced his rent after inspection confirmed that no cooking gas service was being provided in his apartment.

(Decision submitted by Manhattan attorney Eileen O'Toole, the Law Office of Eileen O'Toole, who represented the landlord.)

Rent-stabilized tenant complained to the DHCR that landlord failed to offer him a renewal lease on the same terms and conditions as his expiring lease. Tenant claimed that landlord took away a utility credit that was part of his vacancy lease and added an impermissible "temporary rent concession rider." The DRA ruled for tenant, finding that the utility allowance/credit included in tenant's 2021 vacancy lease must be continued in all renewal leases offered to tenant.

In 2022, landlord applied to the DHCR for a determination of an apartment's rent regulatory status and legal regulated rent. The DRA ruled that the apartment was rent stabilized and set the LRR at $450 per month as of Dec. 1, 2023. Landlord appealed and lost. Among other things, the DHCR noted that the issue of the apartment's rent-stabilized status was previously decided in a housing court case commenced by landlord against the tenant. So, the DHCR can't make a separate ruling on the same issue that was already decided.

Tenants sued the DHCR, claiming that they intended to sue the DHCR for negligence. They started the lawsuit claiming to need pre-action discovery from the DHCR to identify the specific DHCR Records Access Officers or supervisory officers involved in the alleged registration alteration, and to preserve the relevant evidence from destruction.