DHCR Must Issue High-Rent/High-Income Deregulation Order
LVT Number: #28437
(Decision submitted by Paul N. Gruber, of the Manhattan law firm of Borah, Goldstein, Altschuler, Nahins & Goidel, P.C., attorneys for the landlord.)
In 2015, landlord filed an application for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant's apartment. The application indicated that the legal rent for the apartment, as well as tenant's income, exceeded the deregulation threshold, since tenant certified on the Income Certification Form (ICF) that his household income was above the threshold. When landlord's application was still pending before the DHCR more than a year and a half after filing, landlord filed an Article 78 mandamus petition and asked the court to direct the DHCR to issue a final order. The court ruled for landlord and directed the DHCR to issue a final order of deregulation.
The DHCR appealed and lost. Rent Stabilization Law Section 26-504.3(b) required the DHCR to issue an order of deregulation within 30 days after landlord filed its application. Tenants certified their income in a timely manner, and landlord didn't challenge the certification. And the DHCR incorrectly relied on its unexplained notice of confirmation, which prompted tenants to change their certified income in an amended ICF filed more than a year after landlord filed its application.
Lenox Hill Apartments Inc. v. DHCR: 161 A.D.3d 641, 2018 NY Slip Op 03763 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 5/24/18; Renwick, JP, Manzanet-Daniels, Mazzarelli, Kapnick, Kahn, JJ)