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Registration Not Found For Subject Premises Since 2012

NYC Rent Regulation: Rent Control/Rent Stabilized, DHCR Practice/Procedures

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Registration Not Found For Subject Premises Since 2012

Postby mirandacosgrove » Thu Jan 20, 2022 12:00 am

Hi there,

I am currently investigating whether my apartment is rent stabilized or not.

Please see the rental history from DHCR below:
1984-1986: Rent Controlled
1987-1993: Rent Stabilized
1994: Rent Stabilized - Vacancy
1995-2011: Rent Stabilized (Legal rent: $1566.20; Preferential rent: $1250)
2012 - 2021: *REG NOT FOUND FOR SUBJECT PREMISES*

Below are the most recent jobs:
2012: MECHANICAL & PLUMBING MODIFICATIONS AS PER PLANS. NO CHANGE IN USE
2012: GENERAL CONSTRUCTION MODIFICATIONS AS PER PLANS. NO CHANGE IN USE
2001: POST APPROVAL AMENDMENT FOR 01

Other items that may be relevant:
My lease was signed in May 2021, and is up end of April 2022. I pay $1750, and my lease states that I acknowledge that I am not in a rent stabilized apartment (but I know that does not necessarily mean that is true).
Streeteasy rental history (which may be inaccurate) shows that in 2014 the apartment was listed for $2595, and in 2016 was rented for $2495.
Many of my neighbors have just moved in in the past few months; I am not sure which neighbors have been living here for a long time.

With this information, is it correct to assume that those jobs in 2012 did not improve the apartment to be legally deregulated (appliances are not old)? Would my next course of action be to contact a tenant lawyer? With only about 3 months before my lease is up and the housing courts being backed up, is this even worth taking to housing court?

Thanks for all of your help.
mirandacosgrove
 
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Re: Registration Not Found For Subject Premises Since 2012

Postby TenantNet » Thu Jan 20, 2022 12:51 am

This post sounds like it's been posted before, perhaps by a different user?

The plumbing and constructions jobs you listed don't tell us anything, You have to get details as to what happened. If they were building-wide, it could be a MCI for all RS units in the building, or IAI improvements for specific units, usually during a vacancy. On the DOB site, look for the PW1 forms. They will have some detail.

From a tenant attorney:

"You should get the printout of the registration history for the apartment from the DHCR. The apartment may or may not have been validly deregulated pursuant to high rent vacancy deregulation. Under the 1997 law, the threshold was $2,000. Under the 2011 law, the threshold increased to $2,500. Under the 2015 law, the threshold increased to $2,700, with incremental increases in the threshold thereafter equivalent to the amount of RGB increases for one-year renewals. Under HSTPA, high rent vacancy deregulation was repealed, but units that previously were lawfully deregulated would remain deregulated."

Some things you say don't make sense:
"1995-2011: Rent Stabilized (Legal rent: $1566.20; Preferential rent: $1250)"

If RS, the rent would not be $1,566 for each of those 16 years.

The acknowledgment that it's not RS means nothing. Ignore that.

Streeteasy is inaccurate. Ignore it.

I think you need a better handle on the rent history. More detail is needed.

Housing Court would not have jurisdiction on the apartment status. They deal with evictions. You can file with DHCR or in Supreme Court.

From what you have above, the unit was $1,566 when it appears top have been deregulated (or the LL just didn't register). That's below any of the deregulation thresholds. But I would keep digging for more detail.
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Re: Registration Not Found For Subject Premises Since 2012

Postby mirandacosgrove » Thu Jan 20, 2022 2:27 am

Hi TenantNet,

Thank you so much for the quick reply. This is my first time posting here, but I'm sure there are others with similar situations. Hopefully they will be able to learn from this thread as well.

First, I'd like to address the 1995-2011 rent situation. The apartment was rent stabilized and leased to the same tenant, and was not $1556 for all 20 years. What I meant to write was that in 2011, the last year of registration, the apartment was registered at $1566.20 legal rent and $1250 preferential rent. It has not been registered since then.

Thank you for the tip to dig deeper into the DOB site. Here are my findings.
That was actually one job, and the final cost affidavit states it cost $49,000.
The permits are left very vague as Alteration Type 2; plumbing, general construction, and mechanical systems/hvac.
The construction was stated to be specifically on the cellar/1st floor.
The final cost affidavit also lists the "owner/lease holder" as the business on the 1st floor of the building. The project name is listed as "**** salon", which is what that business is.

Based on these findings, I think that these improvements may only be for the business. Even if this can be considered a MCI, the increase should still be very small.

If I am doing my calculations correctly, if we assume 18% increase due to vacancy lease increases, it would take 3 consecutive increases to go above the $2500 threshold (the calculated legal rent would be $2573 in 2014).

I am not sure where I can find the rest of the rental history in order to determine whether the apartment was legally or illegally deregulated, but it seems like the apartment may have been legally deregulated.
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Re: Registration Not Found For Subject Premises Since 2012

Postby TenantNet » Thu Jan 20, 2022 6:41 am

OK, but what you wrote is your interpretation of what it all meant. I, nor you, can really say with any confidence, what things ought to be based on that. While you may be correct, you might not be as well. Someone like me, or a lawyer, or DHCR, will need to raw data so to speak.

With DOB you need to look at the job number. There might be various amendments to the same job. DOB gets trick and is not easy to figure out. If an when you really need to, if it's material to your case, I would get an engineer or architect to look at the overall DOB history. There are people like expediters, people who know the bureaucracy and how to shuffle papers, but in general I don't think their expertise would be well-received at DHCR or the courts.

LLs often misstate the cost as their fee to DOB depends on the cost. You need to see of this is a building-wide thing or if it applies to a particular apartment. If building-wide, there would be a MCI order. You can FOIL DHCR for any MCI orders granted to the building from 1984 to the present. Individual apartment increases (IAI) are generally not reported to DHCR, yet are used to justify huge increases and deregulations.

Normally I would say look for ways they could have jacked-up the rent. Round numbers of rents are usually bogus as RS increases are percentages and often result in odd pennies. So $1750 might be bogus where $1749.52 might be legit. Still, see if the work was actually done.

From what you said, the reported rent was still below the threshold, so I don't see how they could assert high rent deregulation. Maybe I'm not seeing something.

If the work was to be on the first floor or cellar or 1st floor, while it might have been illegal, it probably didn't apply to your apartment.

Look to the RGB orders as to when there were vacancy increases. They change from year-to-year.

Legally deregulated? If I were looking at the raw data, I would come to a different conclusion. I would keep looking at it. I would not encourage speculative complaints to DHCR, still it seems there might be enough. You've made assumptions that are just speculation. If you can find the prior tenant, you might get some details.
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