BL 410153 RO; BL 410367 RO
                                  STATE OF NEW YORK
                      DIVISION OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY RENEWAL
                            OFFICE OF RENT ADMINISTRATION
                                     GERTZ PLAZA
                               92-31 UNION HALL STREET
                               JAMAICA, NEW YORK 11433

          ------------------------------------X 
          IN THE MATTER OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE    ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
          APPEAL OF                              DOCKET NO.: BL 410153 RO 
                                                             BL 410367 RO 

               105 East 8th Street Associates,   DISTRICT RENT OFFICE
                                                 DOCKET NO.: 45748

                                                 TENANT:  Malcolm  Marguith
                                   PETITIONER    
          ------------------------------------X 

            ORDER AND OPINION GRANTING PETITION FOR ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
                                          
          The above-named  owner  has  timely  filed  the  above-referenced
          petitions  for  administrative  review  of  an  order  issued  on
          October 30,1987, by the Rent Administrator, Columbus Circle, 
          New York, concerning the housing accommodations known as 105 East 
          38th Street,  New  York,  Apartment  No.  2B,  wherein  the  Rent
          Administrator  granted  the  tenant's  objection  to   the   1984
          Apartment Services Registration.

          This  proceeding  was  commenced   with   the   filing   of   the
          aforementioned objection in August, 1984.  It was  there  stated,
          inter alia, that although the April 1, 1984  rent  shown  by  the
          owner on this Division's form RR-1 was $474, the  tenant  was  in
          fact paying $400 at that time.   The  owner  responded  that  the
          tenant "continued to  pay  $400.00  per  month  rent  during  the
          pendency of . . . proceedings before the CAB  and/or  the  DHCR,"
          and that although, pursuant to court stipulation, the owners  had
          not collected the rent provided for in the applicable lease, they 
          were "now entitled to collect such lease rents in  light  of  the
          decision of the DHCR, under Docket Nos. ARL 05573 L-76 [sic]."

          In response to a subsequent Administrator's  request,  the  owner
          submitted copies of Civil Court stipulations of  March  15,  1982
          and September 7, 1983.  An attached letter stated inter alia that 
          the owner had not sought  to  collect  the  lease  rent,  pending
          determination of tenants' challenges as to the effective date  of
          the subject lease and others, but that  "[s]ince  that  challenge
          has been resolved,  we  are  in  the  process  of  computing  the
          arrears"  arising   from   uncollected   intervening   guidelines
          increases.
          In the aforementioned order,  here  appealed,  the  Administrator
          concluded: "Based on the evidence in the  record  which  includes
          the Civil Court Stipulation, it is determined that on 4/1/84  the
          tenant  paid  a  monthly  rent  of  $400.00";  the  Administrator
          therefore ordered the Registration amended to reflect that figure 
          as the registered rent.

          The instant petition incorporates the owner's previous statements 
          by reference, adding that the rent in question "was  $474.00  per
          month pursuant to a lease effective  March  1,  1981,"  that  the






          BL 410153 RO; BL 410367 RO
          owner  was  obliged  to  accept  the  previous  rent  pending   a
          determination "as to the effectiveness of a previous lease,"  and
          that in its decision docketed  at  numbers  ARL  5573-76  L,  the
          Commissioner had "affirmed the validity" of same.

          The record contains no tenant's response to this petition.

          The Commissioner is of the opinion that the  petition  should  be
          granted. 

          The operative facts herein are: that the rent  under  a  disputed
          lease was $474 monthly; that  because  of  a  pending  proceeding
          under which the effectiveness of that lease had  been  suspended,
          the owner was only collecting $400 at the relevant time; and that 
          pursuant to a  later  stipulation,  the  parties  signed  another
          lease in which the rent for the relevant time was again $474.  Of 
          these facts, the Commissioner  regards  the  first  and  last  as
          dispositive.   When the owner  filed  the  disputed  registration
          statement, the only existing lease called  for  $474  in  monthly
          rent.  After  the  subsequent  stipulation  had  called  for  the
          issuance of a new lease, the parties signed a lease,  retroactive
          to the pertinent time for registration purposes, calling for  the
          same rental.   Therefore,  the  registration  rent  was  properly
          listed as $474.  (That it was not $400 is easily seen  by  taking
          that result to its logical extreme: if a court were to order  all
          rent payments suspended pending a certain  decision,  the  proper
          registered rent would not be zero).

          THEREFORE, in accordance with  the  Rent  Stabilization  Law  and
          Code, it is

          ORDERED, that this petition be, and the same hereby is,  granted,
          and that the Rent Administrator's order be and  the  same  hereby
          is, modified to  list  the  April  1,  1984  registered  rent  as
          $474.00.

          ISSUED:


                                                                      
                                          JOSEPH A. D'AGOSTA
                                          Acting Deputy Commissioner




                     


















          BL 410153 RO; BL 410367 RO



















    

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