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Correct way to file a PAR and Correct Form- Info varies

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

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Correct way to file a PAR and Correct Form- Info varies

Postby structure01 » Sat Jun 08, 2019 2:58 pm

LL was forced to file a rent restore application.
I submitted Tenant Answer as tenant rep.
My Answer was lost in mail.
No answer for tenant group to examine- LL won.
I am submitting a PAR appeal.
Gertz Plaza by phone has told me twice that I can take my PAR appeal in person to Beaver St. office. Beaver St date/time stamp is acceptable.
PAR form says you must submit to Gertz Plaza. I do not want our Answer lost again.
Which is correct?
2. Down at Beaver Street office, DHCR worker ave me Form RTP-3 Answer to Notice and?or Application as the correct form to submit my PAR appeal on. She did not give me an instruction. Sheet. I cannot find any info on that form. Is she correct? or should I add an additional Tenant's Answer form with the new documentation I am adding to my original Tenant's answer a copy of which I am now submitting with a request that all be examined for a new determination and why? Is there another form or just the PAR form? I do not want this kicked back to me.
3. Gertz Plaza also told me to submit an appeal request to Anthony Tatano- Bureau Chief for Non-Compliance. I a doing this as well. There does not appear to be form. is it okay to simply submit the same full completed PAR package to Mr. Tatano?

I have never lost a case before. I don't like going high up the DHCR chain. I do not know how picky they are going to be.I want to cross every t and dot every i. Gertz Plaza on the phone has never steered me wrong. the worker at Beaver St was not very helpful in answering other questions. I want to know where I am going if I go down there again. Thanks.
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Re: Correct way to file a PAR and Correct Form- Info varies

Postby TenantNet » Sat Jun 08, 2019 4:08 pm

He chose to file for a restoration, they are not forced to file.

When the USPS loses a letter, that's why you send mail by certified mail or by certificate of mailing. You can also fax it to DHCR (when I do it's just the text, not the exhibits - and include any exhibits in the mailing).

But you still must file within 35 days. You can re-file if within the 35 days. But your post really isn't too clear as to what happened.

I believe that any response - whatever it is you are doing - can be filed either at Gertz or at Beaver St.

What is a RTP-3 form? If you have a copy, please scan and send PDF of the form. We can't begin to answer unless we see the form.

You can probably just submit whatever it is to Mr. Tatano.

As far as we know, there is no such thing as a "Par Appeal." Are you sure of what DHCR told you over the phone?

You would have to file a judicial appeal (Article 78) in NYS Supreme Court. But based on what you've said, I don't think your chances are very good. I believe there are limited exceptions if the PAR decision was based on a technical flaw (i.e., they go a date wrong - that can be corrected).

There are other situations that call for a refiling of a PAR - see one example at https://www.graubard.com/Articles/Aparm ... t-2012.pdf (a landlord publication).

But a PAR appeal? Never heard of it.
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Re: Correct way to file a PAR and Correct Form- Info varies

Postby structure01 » Sat Jun 08, 2019 5:26 pm

I had not previously filed a PAR.
" LL forced to file the application to restore the rent." Our LL had ignored a rent freeze ordered by DHCR since 08/13 threatening the tenants it they did not pay rent prior to freeze ( I did not know until much later about filing for overcharges).
In 02/18 LL tried to make tenants sign a renewal lease ( no new lease in-between) with a rent increase while the rent freeze was in effect. My LL does nor obey DHCR orders and had never applied for the rent restoration.
The tenants objected. During our 60 day response period the LL started Termination.
I got our State Senator and City Council Member involved and stopped the Termination.
The landlord paid us most of the overcharges I had been demanding with each of my rent checks ( on the rent check. I filed for the rest of the overcharges they did not reimburse fully.
So, in that way, in order to increase the rent in a new renewal lease the LL has been "forced to apply for a rent restoration."
I do not believe they have corrected the condition that caused the rent reduction/freeze.

I wrote an Answer for the Tenants to their Rent restore application and sent to DHCR in a timely manner. That is what was lost.
Because DHCR had no answer from the tenants as to whether or not the condition causing the reduction/freeze had been corrected, they rubber=stamped for the LL and the LL had the rent restoration/increase approved.

I am filing a PAR submitting my return receipt showing I mailed my Tenant Answer on a timely basis and that it was lost, and, therefore, never seen by the rent examiner for inclusion in the review. I believe the issues are substantive enough for consideration to reopen for a possible new determination.

It is much easier for me to submit to Beaver Street and I know it is received. But the PAR form states that it can only be submitted at Gertz Plaza. Gertz Plaza over the phone said Beaver Street is okay.
I wish I could scan the form she gave me at Beaver St. No scanner. It is not on any DHCR current list- RTP-3 Answer to Notice And/Or Application. I am done except for what form goes along with the PAR. This is my first PAR. I had nothing rejected by PAR. I did not mail anything to PAR and it was lost. It was my original Tenant Answer to the LL's rent restore application.

Does that help? I appreciate the assistance.
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Re: Correct way to file a PAR and Correct Form- Info varies

Postby structure01 » Mon Jun 10, 2019 5:09 pm

I spoke to a DHCR supervisor today. The only way to file the PAR form in person is at Gertz Plaza. It cannot be date/time stamped at any office other than Gertz Plaza e.g Beaver St.Otherwise, the PAR must be mailed.

The Form RPT-2 Answer to Notice and/or Application, which the worker at the Beaver Street office incorrectly gave me ( with no instructions. The form is not on an current online DHCR list of tenant forms) to submit with my PAR ( she did not give me a PAR form, only PAR instructions, so read everything before you leave the Beaver St DHCR office), is give to the tenant by DHCR when DHCR wants more information.

In the future I would not trust the in-person information from the front desk person at the Beaver St. office.
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Re: Correct way to file a PAR and Correct Form- Info varies

Postby TenantNet » Tue Jun 18, 2019 1:58 am

I originally misread your first post. I thought you had filed a PAR, had lost it and were then appealing the bad decision to DHCR. When one loses a PAR, they can commence a judicial appeal (via Article 78) in the NYS Supreme Court.

What you actually said was that the LL filed for a restoration, your reply was lost by the USPS and DHCR ruled against you. So now you are filing a PAR (to DHCR). The PAR is your appeal to the agency.

As for where to file, I always thought Beaver Street was acceptable, but if there's any doubt, you should send it to Gertz Plaza (by certified mail). You can also do both. But if you do both, DHCR in all its wisdom, might open two cases. Try explaining that to someone at DHCR.

I believe the correct form to file a PAR is RAR-2. See
https://hcr.ny.gov/system/files/documen ... 9/rar2.pdf
(although that might be an out-of-date version - check with DHCR for latest)

On the form you can always say "see attached statement" and then add whatever you wish.

We do not know of Mr. Tatano. Non-compliance is a different bureau than the PAR Bureau, where all PARs are evaluated. If you do send it to him, he might send it to the PAR Burea - but who knows.

Remember, with PARs...

- Use the correct form; it can be rejected for using the wrong form
- attach a copy of the order being appealed - or it might be rejected
- file within 35 days (or get a postmark within 35 days)

If, and you say above, you have a return receipt showing your original answer was mailed to DHCR timely, the agency should reconsider your challenge.

OK, I finally dug through old records and did find a RTP-3 form, Answer to Notice and/or Application. That is NOT a form to file a PAR appeal. I think it is a catch-all form used by DHCR when it wants more information from a tenant or LL.
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Re: Correct way to file a PAR and Correct Form- Info varies

Postby structure01 » Sat Aug 03, 2019 10:28 pm

Yes, thank you for your final response which was correct on all scores as I have found. DHCR directed me to file two : one with the PAR Unit and one with Mr. Tatano. I have my return receipts now from both. With any luck HCR will reconsider my challenge.

I think the instructive part of this for others is the following: absent an answer from the tenants, DHCR ruled in favor of the landlord.

As part of the process to restore the rent, DHCR sent an inspector to our building to see if full access to the building-wide amenity had been restored ( it has not been via written Landlord policy which I documented in my answer).

I was at home all day on the date of the DHCR inspection. Although I did not have time to submit a FOIL to see what the inspection consisted of ( other than to see that the facility in question exists in the building), the only other thing an inspector could have done was to speak to the landlord's on-site personnel who would say- oh, of course, full access has been restored- no problem.

Whether or not the tenants had been able to submit a written answer, lost in the mail or not, the DHCR inspector certainly could have rung tenant bells ( there are only four of us) to see if there was a tenant available to interview about the restoration of full access to the amenity.

DHCR, which made a trip all the way to the East Village to our building, to inspect did not make an effort to get the perspective of a tenant in person. If they did not speak to the landlord's on-site personal, all the inspector could have done was look at the facility, as all the other tenants would have been away all day and not available.
I was entirely available with documentation that full access had not been restored.

Had the inspector rung my bell, I was available. There could be many reasons e.g, poor command of English or frea from tenants who had suffered through an eviction attempt only weeks before that the tenants did not file a written answer. There was another way for ain inspector to obtain that information from a tenant.

DHCR simply came to the building, did not contact any of us during that visit, the examiner wrote that we did not respond in writing and DHCR approved the rent restoration.

FYI- my landlord had ignored a DHCR ordered rent freeze for 6 years and tried to evict the r/s tenants when we objected during the 60 day response period to a renewal lease that contained a rent increase with the rent freeze in effect. They hired an eviction attorney and started Notice of Termination, which I stopped immediately with the assistance if our State Senator and City Councilmember. That renewal lease was withdrawn.

As many issues on the next renewal lease are the same, we have an outstanding lease violation complaint. at the present time.

I am now to the point where I am taking the risk of having Deputy Commissioner for Non-Compliance/Enforcement look at my Landlord's total non-compliance will all of their orders.It appears that HCR is pretty well insulated from taking any meaningful action against habitually non-compliant landlords.

I am hoping that fairness will prevail in both situations with sufficient truth and ample documentation. Hoping...
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Re: Correct way to file a PAR and Correct Form- Info varies

Postby TenantNet » Sun Aug 04, 2019 4:18 am

Unless it has changed, if there is a question of fact, the rent examiner handling the case would write up an inspection request that is then sent over to the inspection unit. The inspectors go out and do their thing and report back, again in writing.

DHCR places a lot of emphasis on inspections, so it's important they get it right.

You can FOIL both the inspection request and inspection report. Often, the question asked is as important as the result the inspector reports. If something is wrong with either, you should ASAP follow-up by writing DHCR on your case and explain what they did wrong.
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Re: Correct way to file a PAR and Correct Form- Info varies

Postby Landlords Boy » Fri Aug 09, 2019 3:11 pm

Always send stuff to Gertz Plaza address and ALWAYS send it certified.
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Re: Correct way to file a PAR and Correct Form- Info varies

Postby structure01 » Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:07 pm

Thank you, tenantnet. I have questioned what could have taken place as part of a complete inspection on a day that I was home all day, so a tenant could have been contacted, but was not. I am still waiting for an answer on the PAR as to whether or not the case will be reopened because the tenant answer was lost in the mail, and therefore, not taken into consideration by the rent examiner.

If the case is reopened, I intended to FOIL the inspection request and the inspection report. I believe I could have made the foil request and stated in my PAR that I was doing so, but health issues precluded my involvement in the case at that time, unfortunately. Thanks for the help.
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