Tenant Moved into Building After Sub Rehab and J-51 Benefit Expiration

Landlord applied to the DHCR for a ruling that its building was exempt from rent regulation due to a substantial rehabilitation done in 1989. The DRA ruled for landlord. However, the DRA ruled that four tenants who lived in the building while it received J-51 tax benefits between 1989 and 2012 and who didn't receive required J-51 lease riders explaining that their rent-regulatory status would expire when the benefits expired remained subject to rent stabilization until they moved out.

Another tenant appealed and lost. She claimed that she never received a J-51 rider with her initial apartment lease. But tenant didn't move into the building until 2018, six years after the J-51 benefits expired in 2012. Since this tenant didn't live in the building before the expiration of the J-51 tax benefit period, her apartment was permanently exempt from rent stabilization as a result of the sub rehab.

Sarvghadi: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. LW210015RT (2/29/24)[3-pg. document]