Posted by kristin on July 21, 2000 at 10:01:17:
In Reply to: Re: rent strike, p.a.r., & threat of eviction posted by TBONE on July 20, 2000 at 18:56:45:
in the rent overcharge case, dhcr ruled that we were not stabilized due to a claim that our buidling was rebuilt after a fire and a huge stack of paperwork that my landlord's lawyer flooded them with (these were mostly minor work documents that were even stamped "superceeded"). in our p.a.r. we prove--via fire dept records and an architect's report, that our building was never rehabbed. hopefully, this will be enough evidence for dhcr.
: In the order, was your building determined to be stabilized or not. If not, what was the reason
: thanks, hopefully i can make this sensical. here's how it all went down:
: : i moved in in oct. '98 to a much higher rent than my neighbors ($1700, compared with their $1100 or so). the building was just taken over by new owners. we were told that the building was not rent stabilized. however, one neighbor was given a rent stabilized lease, two years before. we all filed rent overcharge complaints with dhcr. the building was never registered with them. the neighbor with the former stabilized lease won her case, with treble damages. then, months later the rest of us lost our cases and seven months after winning, my other neighbor's case was re-opened and overturned! i'm pretty sure that is against procedure. so, we all banded together and filed a p.a.r. which was docketed in april. our landlords tried to evict us in march, right after we filed. they cashed our rent checks, though. the housing court judge laughed at them. he also said that he wasn't going to make us pay rent. and we weren't even ordered to keep the money in escrow. he also said that we shouldn't come back to court until the dhcr rules. so, our rent strike could go on forever and that makes me nervous. if i win, i get to keep the back rent. if i lose, what happens? also, my roommate (both of us were on the original lease) has decided to move out. will my having a new roommate cause problems? will it give my landlords any leverage? do i need their approval? no one in the building has a current lease.
: : help!
: : : : I have a pretty complicated situation and was hoping that some people could answer parts of this. i am currently waiting on a p.a.r. decision. my whole building is on the same docket. my landlord has tried to evict all of us since filing. he did not follow procedure in doing this, however; he cashed a rent check afterward. so, now, i've not paid in 4 months. further, my roommate is moving out and i'm taking on a new one. will that cause a problem? i was on the original lease (the landlord has let everyone's leases expire, though).
: : : : getting back to the rent strike--we have had virtually no services in the building during my entire tennancy. will we have to pay back the entire amount of rent we've withheld? when we went to housing court the judege told us that he was NOT going to make us pay rent (only that we should 'consider paying something if this drags on for too long'). he didn't even make us put the money into escrow. has anyone been through this? everything's on hold until the dhcr rules on our par, so we're waiting for the other shoe to drop.
: : : : thanks for any help.
: : :
: : : Maybe you can try to outline what happened chronologically. I do not know what the PAR is all about, the issues in the underlying decision, etc.
: : : PARs can take a very long time. Mine took only eight months, but another PAR I was involved in took much longer.
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