Landlord Properly Set Initial Rent-Stabilized Rent

Tenant complained of rent overcharge. His monthly rent was $1,720.80. The DRA ruled against tenant, who appealed and lost. The building was newly constructed, and tenant was the first tenant to move into the apartment. Under a regulatory agreement with HPD, landlord agreed to charge 90 percent of the unit's fair market rent. So, the rent of $1,720.80 charged by landlord and affirmed by Section 8 became the legal regulated rent. Tenant claimed that he won a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit lottery for the apartment at a rent of $1,127. He said that landlord committed fraud by changing the terms of his original lease and falsifying tenant's initials to make it look as if tenant agreed to the new terms.

The DHCR disagreed. The Maximum Initial Rent by Unit Size Regulatory Agreement identified the maximum initial monthly tenant rent share for an apartment the size of tenant's apartment as $1,127. So tenant's share of the legal rent shouldn't be more than that amount. Landlord initially gave tenant a lease reflecting the HPD rent. A second lease, a month later, reflected the result of the lottery rent granted to tenant. Neither lease was fraudulent.

Mbow: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. GM410029RT (12/12/18) [2-pg. doc.]