Tenant Claims Building Had Six Apartments on Base Date

Landlord asked the DHCR to decide whether tenant was rent controlled. The DRA ruled for landlord, finding that tenant failed to show that she lived in the apartment before July 1, 1971. The DRA also found that tenant wasn't rent stabilized because the building contained fewer than six apartments. Tenant appealed, and the DHCR reopened the case. Tenant claimed that when he moved into the building in 1972, and until at least 1976, there were six apartments in the building. The DRA had relied on old rent-control office records that predated the July 1, 1974, base date for rent-stabilization coverage. These records therefore didn't show how many apartments were in the building on the stabilization base date. Current HPD records also didn't reflect how many apartments there were on the base date.  The case was sent back to the DRA to determine whether there were at least six apartments in the building on the July 1, 1974, base date.

Orlic: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. ZF220073RT (7/11/13) [4-pg. doc.]