Luxury Deregulation Application Reopened

Landlord applied for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenant's rent-controlled apartment in 2016 after legal rent exceeded $2,700 per month and seeking to verify whether tenant's annual household income was over $200,000 in 2014 and 2015. The DRA ruled against landlord, finding that the maximum rent for tenant's apartment was less than $2,700 per month on the date that landlord sent tenant the 2016 Income Certification Form. Landlord appealed, and the case was reopened. DHCR rent records showed that the maximum collectible rent (MCR) for the apartment was less than $2,700 per month on the relevant date. But the DRA never sent landlord notice of this while its luxury deregulation application was pending. To give landlord due process, the case was reopened and sent back to the DRA so that landlord could respond if it believed the MCR exceeded the deregulation threshold.

Seeken 79th Realty LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. FQ420022RO (10/18/17) [3-pg. doc.]