Tenant Waited Too Long to Claim Rent-Control Coverage

Rent-stabilized tenant complained to the DHCR that she was actually rent controlled. She claimed that her grandmother was the rent-controlled tenant of the apartment when she and her mother moved in with her in 1966. The grandmother died in July 2000. New landlord bought the building in September 2000 and gave tenant a rent-stabilized lease. Tenant said that she had lived with tenant during the two years before tenant died, and submitted copies of her 1984 voter registration card, voting history from 1986-2007, and law school records listing the apartment as her address. The DRA ruled against tenant. Tenant never challenged landlord's November 2000 Report of Statutory Decontrol or annual apartment registration forms, and signed the rent-stabilized lease and renewals for seven years before complaining. In a similar case, an appeals court had previously ruled that this was an unreasonable delay. So the DHCR wouldn't consider tenant's succession claim under rent control. In addition, the documents tenant submitted to the DRA didn't show that tenant lived in the apartment during the required two-year window period before her grandmother died.

Bilas: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. XA120041RT (9/17/10) [5-pg. doc.]