Hi all, I need some help here - my landlord wants me to move out of my apartment by the end of October, and says they want to tear down the building and build a new one. I have been living here for 5 years and don't want to move. I was one a lease for a couple years, and the landlord didn't want to renew the lease so we've been doing month-to-month. It never occurred to me that the unit might be rent stabilized, so I didn't look into it until someone told me to request the rent history from the dhcr. I did that, and as it turns out this unit was rent stabilized for every year between 1988-1996 (for 2 different tenants). Every other year (1984-1988 and 1996-present) says "reg not found for subject premises". The highest the rent ever was during those years (1988) was $360. Our current rent is in the 1500 range (this is a rapidly gentrifying area of Brooklyn, which was not so desirable 10 years ago) so there is no way the rent could have ever been higher than 2000. Am I right to believe that this unit is almost certainly rent stabilized? If not, how could it have become de-stabilized? I was planning on going to the dhcr or Monday and potentially filing a claim for rent overages, and to get to the bottom of this. But I have some reservations, and am not sure this is the best route.
First of all, I read on this very website http://www.tenant.net/alerts/articles/complaining.html that going to the dhcr is not the best option, partly because of how long they take. If the landlord wants to tear the building down within a few months, but the dhcr takes over a year for an investigation, where does that leave me? What happens if the landlord does tear down the building, then come to find out that the apt was rent-stabilized? If I go to the dhcr, the landlord will know about my suspicion of rent-stabilized status, and might get a head start in falsifying documents/getting their ducks in order. Should I just stay here and let the landlord try to evict us, and wait until they take us to court? I would then be entitled to an attorney, and we could get our ducks in order, and surprise the landlord and the judge with the rental history, which the landlord assumes I'm unaware of. Is my thinking on this correct? Should I get an attorney right away? If so, where would be a good place to find a pro bono lawyer? I'm not experienced with this kind of thing and have never had an attorney for anything. So far, I've had the runaround and feel very on my own. Any advice is greatly appreciated, Thanks!