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Apartment Registration

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

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Apartment Registration

Postby nycman » Wed Feb 08, 2023 3:25 pm

My landlord no longer registers RS apartments. I suspect they are doing this to rent stabilized apartments as market rate renters. Is there any legal effect to the apartment status if the LL simply stops registering the apartment?
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Re: Apartment Registration

Postby TenantNet » Wed Feb 08, 2023 3:53 pm

We're talking occupied RS units, right? This is not a question of deregulation after a prior tenant's vacancy, right?

Sure, the rent can't legally increase if they fail to register. Same if they don't offer a lease. I could look it up, but a LL must offer a RS least on the RTP-8 form. See https://hcr.ny.gov/system/files/documen ... llable.pdf
This is the 7/22 version, I think the latest.

Plus the must plead a unit is RS when taking a tenant to Housing Court.

You can complain to DHCR about no (proper) lease or registration, but they often screw up. You can also bring it up as a defense in a court case.

With the 2019 HSTPA, there is no longer high rent or high income deregulation. There are limited opportunities to deregulated units, the one being talked about a lot is what they call Frankenstein apartment, where a LL combines two units into one, creating a new "first rent."
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Re: Apartment Registration

Postby nycman » Wed Feb 08, 2023 4:42 pm

Yes, we are talking RS units. None of the units in the building have been registered since 2018. They're still RS apartments.

This LL has attempted the Frankenstein bit as well, but they're so incompetent they are unable to obtain a permit to do so.
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Re: Apartment Registration

Postby TenantNet » Wed Feb 08, 2023 5:28 pm

Keep on top of the DOB permits (as well as any DHCR applications).

For DOB, start with zola.planning.nyc.gov - search for the lot at the upper left, then and hit the BISWEB link on the far left (for DOB permits including those in process).

DHCR might be issuing new rules soon, that might include regs against Frankenstein units. Be alert for that.

If you don't have it already, start a tenant association so tenants can be educated on failure to register - or use of the correct lease form, and they won't be intimidated when they face that.
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Re: Apartment Registration

Postby nycman » Thu Feb 09, 2023 10:11 pm

I keep a close watch on them. I did try to start a tenant's association, but we couldn't secure the participation we needed. I'm pretty sure the LL raised rent on some RS tenants, which they aren't legally allowed to do.
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Re: Apartment Registration

Postby TenantNet » Thu Feb 09, 2023 10:37 pm

You only need two people for a tenants association. How many units in the building?
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Re: Apartment Registration

Postby nycman » Thu Feb 09, 2023 11:36 pm

There are 26 units in the building. I can scare up 2. What do I need to do?
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Re: Apartment Registration

Postby TenantNet » Fri Feb 10, 2023 4:26 am

Somewhere on this site we have a page on how to form a tenant group. You can also google around as I've seen other articles. But in general you just agree to form one and what it's called.

That's it to start. Later you can do things like:
- mission statement - fairly important
- by-laws, if it gets large enough, sets up officers and rules
- Federal EIN and bank account, you can also incorporate and get a 501c3 rating
- and more. Have periodic meetings. Make a lit of what you want to accomplish. Do NOT start out being confrontational with the LL. They will hear about it and perhaps try to shut you down.
- Don't pressure people; just let them know you exist. People will be apprehensive and afraid of confrontation. So don't let them think that. Don't use words like "legal."
- make up a contact list of all tenants with name, tel., email, etc. Over time, they may tell you things like if they are rent stab or not. Do some things like plant flowers, but help people get a rent history. At the same time learn your rights and what you can do.
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