Apartment de stabilized in 2005 illegally?

[Buggzy]

Hi, hope I’m posting this in the right place.

I just got my DCHR apartment history and in 2005 my apartment was de stabilized. It lists the last actual rent as $1600 and the last regulated rent as $1730.21. Then it was vacant for a few months and the de stabilized for the next tenant (my old roommate), she paid from what I can tell $2050 in 2005. I’ve been a lease holder since March 2022, I paid $2,600 for the first year and I pay now for a 2 year lease $2,900 (great for a NY apartment I know) but I am just wondering if it was de stabilized illegally because if you take the actual $1600 rent and add 20% vacancy it is less than $2000 and I know no major renovations happened. I’ve searched for permits and can’t find any online and the apartment is very old and outdated, even the carpet is pre 90’s when they bought the building (and the landlord refuses to change or remove it). I also can’t find any J-51 tax abatement but I do see that the 16 unit apartment building still has 3 Rent stabilized units and they get some SCRIE Rent stabilization abatement.
Just wondering if I have a case for re stabilizing the apartment and if there’s any good attorneys I could talk to.

[TenantNet]

Sorry for the delay in responding.

Since when is $2,900 "great" for a NYC apartment? Don't be a masochist. It may be common, but in our view, it's still criminal. LLs get away with it because millennials are willing to pay it, and the NYS DHCR will do anything to make landlords happy.

We wish we could be more hopeful with your situation, but this is the same question - and same answer - we constantly get.

For many years since 1997, there was a four-year lookback limit (sort of a statute of limitations) on overcharge claims. There were exceptions for fraud, but that's VERY hard to prove.

For a long time we thought there might be a distinction from overcharge claims as opposed to status claims (whether the unit was still RS and not deregulated), but we've seen varying and confusing decisions on that point. If allowed, that might mean you could establish that a unit was not deregulated, reinstating RS status, but not allowing any overcharge claim or change in rent. So we're not sure where all that stands.

In June 2019 the HSTPA set a six-year lookback limit, adding another two years to the previous four-year limit, but the Court of Appeals in the Regina Metro v. DHCR case said it can't be retroactive to before the HSTPA was enacted. So right now (October 2023), that means the lookback period is 4 years and 4 months, and it will grow until June 2025 when it hits the six year limit.

But on overcharges (and perhaps status) that means if you file a case now, DHCR and the courts are prohibited from considering any evidence prior to June 2019.

Your question, we have to presume the legal rent was $1,730.21 (and perhaps a preferential rent of $1,600), you're questioning the legal rent increase (forget the P.R. and that's corrected since 2019).

Normally the LL is supposed to indicate the costs of improvements on the DHCR Informational rider (often not done). But let's say you filed a complaint, the LL would have the opportunity to submit evidence as to how the rent was increased from the $1,730. Using the $1,730 instead of $1,600 might bring it above the $2,000 mark. You could go back to the RGB orders in effect when the vacancy occurred and 20% might not be the only way to increase the rent. Over the years the RGB has added other ways for LLs to jack up the rent (i.e., longevity increase, poor tax, etc.). You would have to see that 2005 lease and the RGB order from that time. Yes, LL's often submit bogus improvements.

Note: if the carpet is in that bad of shape, you can file for a rent reduction with DHCR or an HP Action in Housing Court.

As for attorneys, a number of legit tenant lawyers advertise on this site. Some offer a free or low-cost consultation. You would have to ask each one.

But overall based on the information you gave us, I don't think there a path here for you. 18 years is just too long. They won't go back and examine the 2005 lease or improvements (or lack of same) even if the LL submitted something.

As for Fraud, there are a number of articles on this.

https://www.alblawfirm.com/articles/und ... -is-fraud/
This is from a notorious landlord law firm, so they're biased. I would seek tenant attorneys' opinion before trusting landlord law firms.

There are other cases, Thornton v. Baron and Grimm v. DHCR both come to mind. Just Google "DHCR fraud" and you'll find a number of articles on this subject.