No Proof Rent-Stabilized Apartment Was Ever Deregulated

Tenant complained of a reduction in services after HPD issued a vacate order in January 2009. The DRA ruled for tenant and reduced his rent to $1 per month while the apartment was uninhabitable. Landlord appealed, claiming that tenant wasn’t rent stabilized. The DHCR ruled against landlord. The DHCR’s records showed that the apartment was last registered as rent stabilized in 1998. Between 1999 and 2007, the apartment was registered as vacant. Then in 2008, landlord registered the apartment as “exempt.” But there was no proof that landlord ever filed a petition for high-rent deregulation and otherwise no proof that the apartment was no longer rent stabilized.

Black Bird Management, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. XF410006RO (3/17/10) [2-pg. doc.]