Tenant Who Relocated at Landlord's Request Remained Regulated

Landlord applied to the DHCR for a determination that its building was exempt from rent stabilization due to substantial rehabilitation. Landlord claimed that the building was a commercial space until renovated for residential occupancy after 1974. The DRA ruled for landlord. Because the building was previously commercial and not residential, landlord didn't have to prove that 75 percent of building systems were replaced to qualify as substantially rehabilitated. Tenant appealed and won, in part. Tenant pointed out that, in a prior housing court case, landlord claimed that tenant's apartment was rent stabilized. Tenant showed that landlord had asked her to relocate from a rent-stabilized apartment in another building to an apartment in the exempt building. So, while the building wasn't rent stabilized, tenant remained rent stabilized because she relocated at landlord's request.

Martinez: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. FQ210062RT (3/1/18) [6-pg. doc.]