SCRIE

[thankyou]

Hello,
It is time to renew the SCRIE the couple was receiving. Now the couple has separated. Not divorced yet. Due to the very low preferential rent for the duration of their tenancy, they will both continue to live in the same apartment, in separate rooms. Both of their names appear on the RS lease. They don't want to tell their LL about the sepatration and don't want to change anything in the lease. This is actually the case of the roommate for the SCRIE program but no changes to the lease, same names on the lease, everything is the same for LL. We don't want to tell our LL that we consider each other roommates rather than husband and wife. Will SCRIE consider separation rather than divorce? Who will receive SCRIE and whose income will be considered when determining eligibility?
Thanks for any advice

[TenantNet]

So you are still in the same place and still considered a household, perhaps still married. So from that, nothing has changed. SCRIE is based on the rent and the household.

The law changed in 2019 so LLs cannot just lift the preferential rent ... it continues for the duration of the tenancy, as long as one of the two still lives in the unit. That's not the issue here, but the LL can't just up and claim the rent has changed due to your marital situation.

Your personal business is not the LLs business; you should keep that to yourselves. Even if you get divorced, as you are both on the lease, it's not the LLs business and he/she can't take one or the other off the lease. You are still one household.

You do not become co-roommates based on a separation or even a divorce. You are still both co-tenants. A roommate is someone who lives in the apartment, generally not a family member, and is not on the lease. A roommate (also called an occupant) generally pays something to the tenant(s) who are on the lease.

I can't say what SCRIE will consider, but from what you describe, I'm pretty sure you are not now roommates for purposes of Rent Stabilization Law or SCRIE. Remember, the tenants don't "get" SCRIE. It's a tax abatement given to the LL and applied to the rent for the unit. Both incomes together (the household) are considered for SCRIE reporting.

I would do what you did last year; combine both incomes as one household income (as SCRIE directs) and report it to SCRIE. As you are still tenants and not roommates, there's really nothing to report IMHO. I would not tell the LL; it's not his/her business and why complicate things?

A final note ... chances are the SCRIE frozen rent will remain the same, after all that's the idea - a rent INCREASE EXEMPTION. But the legal rent can increase if the LL does things properly, that means they offer a lease on the RTP-8 form at the right time with the increase as allowed by the Rent Guidelines Board. And for any preferential rent, it continues for the life of the tenancy. See https://rentguidelinesboard.cityofnewyo ... -order-55/

For this year a RGB increase is 3% for one year, so the preferential rent would increase by the 3% (and the "legal rent" would also increase by 3%). All that must be on the lease renewal form. Only when both of you leave and a new tenant moves in, at that time the LL can go back to the legal non-preferential rent.

[thankyou]

Thanks for your response and clarification regarding roommates and co-tenants. We will continue SCRIE renewal as you suggested. Thanks again.

[TenantNet]

Added a few things to our prior response.