Tenant Waited Too Long to Claim Rent-Control Status

Tenant complained of a rent overcharge. He said that he was rent controlled. Landlord claimed that tenant was unregulated. The DRA ruled against tenant and found that he wasn't subject to rent control. Tenant appealed and lost. The DRA sent tenant a copy of the report of statutory decontrol filed in 1975. In this report, landlord stated that the apartment was deregulated because it was owner-occupied for one year before it was rented to tenant. Although given two months, tenant never responded to the DHCR's notice of this report. Tenant now sought to submit documents from witnesses who stated that tenant had lived in the apartment for many years. But tenant presented no excuse for not submitting these documents to the DRA. And tenant waited 30 years to challenge the 1975 decontrol report.

Josephs: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. UH220040RT (4/13/07) [2-pg. doc.]