Court Can Consider DHCR Rent Reduction Order as Proof Unit Hadn't Been Deregulated

Landlord sued to eject tenant and asked the court for a declaration without trial that tenant's apartment was deregulated in 2010. The court ruled against landlord, finding that it failed to establish that the apartment rent ever exceeded the $2,000 high-rent vacancy deregulation threshold then in effect.

Landlord appealed and lost. The appeals court noted that landlord failed to submit any leases, other than tenant's 2020 renewal lease, to corroborate the amounts of rent set forth in DHCR rent registration records. The DHCR rent registration history in fact showed that the unit's registered rent never surpassed the deregulation threshold. And landlord failed to provide proof that it had otherwise complied with the requirements of the Rent Stabilization Law. The appeals court also upheld the lower court's refusal to dismiss tenant's affirmative defenses. Among other things, the appeals court stated that tenant could claim as proof a prior DHCR rent reduction order for the apartment, which landlord didn't appeal and where landlord didn't dispute application of the Rent Stabilization Code to the apartment. 

13 E. 124 LLC v. Taylor: Index No. 151572/23, App. No. 3960, Case No. 2024-05601 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 3/25/25; Webber, JP, Friedman, Mendez, Shulman, Higgitt JJ)