Adm. Rev. Docket No.: CD810144RO
                                    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. CD810144RT
                                                                             
             NICHOLAS AND ANTOINETTE PANELLA, :   
                                                  DISTRICT RENT              
                                                  ADMINISTRATOR'S
                                  PETITIONERS :   DOCKET NO. 009786       
          ------------------------------------X                          
                                                  
                                                  LANDLORD: TOWER            
                                                   PROPERTIES


           ORDER AND OPINION REMANDING PROCEEDING ON APPEAL AND MODIFYING    
                        ADMINISTRATOR'S ORDER AND DETERMINATION          

          On April 1, 1988, the above-named petitioner-tenants filed a 
          Petition for Administrative Review against an Order and 
          Determination issued on March 8, 1988, by the Administrator at 10 
          Columbus Circle, New York, New York, concerning housing 
          accommodations known as Apartment 1-A at 106 Union Road, Spring 
          Valley, New York, insofar as it dismissed the tenants' Fair Market 
          Rent Appeal (FMRA) as untimely. 



          The Commissioner has reviewed all the evidence in the record and 
          has carefully considered that portion of the record relevant to the 
          issues herein.


          This proceeding was commenced when the tenants filed an Objection 
          to Rent/Services Registration dated July 13, 1984. In said 
          Objection, the tenants alleged that they had received their Initial 
          Apartment  Registration by hand on June 22, 1984 and that the 
          initial registered rent was not the fair market rent and that the 
          equipment and services portion of the initial registration 
          statement was incorrect or had omitted certain equipment.


          In the appealed Order and Determination, the Administrator noted 
          that the landlord had submitted certain rental information, but had 
          failed to respond as to the services and equipment portion of the 
          Objection. The Administrator went on to state that the subject 












          Adm. Rev. Docket No.: CD810144RO

          registration statement would be amended to reflect the tenants' 
          allegations as to the services and equipment. The Administrator 
          also stated that since the FMRA had not been filed within ninety 
          days of the local effective date (January 1, 1979) of the Emergency 
          Tenant Protection Act of 1974 (ETPA), it was dismissed as untimely. 


          In their Petition for Administrative Review, the tenants assert, in 
          substance, that their FMRA was timely as it had been filed within 
          ninety days of their receipt of their initial apartment 
          registration statement; that they were not in occupancy on the 
          local effective date and had not taken occupancy until September of 
          1983.

          The Commissioner is of the opinion that this matter should be 
          remanded to the Administrator for further appropriate processing.

          The Commissioner notes that the Administrator's Order and 
          Determination  reads, in pertinent part, as follows:

               Based on the evidence in the record, it is determined 
               that the borough of Spring Valley came under the 
               Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974 on January 1, 
               1979.

               Tenant in occupancy had ninety (90) days from that date 
               to challenge the Fair Market Rent. Since no challenge was 
               filed within the period allowed, the rent in effect can 
               not be challenged. Therefore, this objection concerning 
               the fair market rent is untimely and hereby dismissed.

          The Commissioner further notes that it is undisputed that the 
          apartment was occupied on the local effective date; albeit not by 
          the tenants herein. The Commissioner finds that the Administrator 
          used an incorrect starting point for the commencement of the period 
          of time within which a FMRA must be filed as to an apartment that 
          was occupied on the local effective date.

          Section 9(b) (which may also be cited as Section 8629(b), 
          McKinney's Unconsolidated Laws of New York, Vol. 65) of the ETPA 
          limits the time for filing a FMRA to within ninety days after 
          notice has been received by the tenant in writing, by certified 
          mail, as to the initial legal regulated rent and of the tenant's 
          right to challenge that rent in a FMRA. That notice, mandated by 
          Section 9(d), should have been sent by the landlord within thirty 
          days of the local effective date.

          The Commissioner finds that it is clear from the language of the 
          appealed order itself that the Administrator based the dismissal of 
          this FMRA on the mistaken belief that the ninety days ran from the 
          local effective date. The Commissioner also finds that the language 
          of said order contains no mention of there being any evidence 






          Adm. Rev. Docket No.: CD810144RO

          before the Administrator to show that the notice the landlord was 
          required to give within thirty days of the local effective date had 
          been given. 

          Therefore, the Commissioner finds that this proceeding should be 
          remanded to the Administrator for further appropriate processing in 
          accordance with this Order and Opinion.


          THEREFORE, pursuant to all of the applicable statutes and 
          regulations, it is

          ORDERED, that this proceeding should be, and the same hereby is 
          remanded to the Administrator for further processing in accordance 
          with this Order and Opinion; and that the Administrator's Order and 
          Determination be, and the same hereby is, modified so as to delete 
          that provision whereby the tenants' Fair Market Rent Appeal was 
          dismissed as untimely filed.


          ISSUED:



                                                                          
                                            JOSEPH A. D'AGOSTA,
                                            Deputy Commissioner










    

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