Tenant Didn't Submit Answer to Deregulation Application

(Decision submitted by Jeffrey Turkel of the Manhattan law firm of Rosenberg & Estis, P.C., attorneys for the landlord.) Landlord applied in 1995 for high-rent/high-income deregulation of tenants' rent-stabilized apartment. The DRA ruled for landlord because tenants didn't answer landlord's application. Tenants appealed, claiming they had answered the application and that their income was below the $250,000 annual threshold. Landlord claimed that tenants' PAR wasn't filed on time and that there was no reason for the PAR otherwise since tenants never answered the original application. Although the DHCR treated a letter filed by tenants within 35 days of the order as a defective PAR which tenants should have been allowed to amend, the DHCR ruled against tenants on the merits. Tenants submitted no proof of mailing or other proof that they had filed an answer in September 1995, as claimed.

Kingsberg: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. KC410050RT (1/29/97) [3-page document]