Rent Overcharge - Advice Needed!
Hello, I recently discovered that when I began my lease in 2007, that the landlord had raised the rent more than $800 from the previous tenant (who vacated approx 3 months before I took the apartment). After reading up on the law, and carefully inspecting my apartment, I do NOT believe that my landlord made…
Hello,
I recently discovered that when I began my lease in 2007, that the landlord had raised the rent more than $800 from the previous tenant (who vacated approx 3 months before I took the apartment). After reading up on the law, and carefully inspecting my apartment, I do NOT believe that my landlord made the capital improvements to justify such an increase. My apartment is rent stabilized. THE DHCR mailed me copy of the rent roll, which is how I came to discover the previous tenant’s rent.
Has anyone been through this process before? All advice welcome.
I believe that the best course of action may well be taking the landlord to civil or supreme court.
I had an overcharge on a rent-stabilized apartment a while ago. It almost seemed like a clerical error — about $100/more a month than it should have been. It was corrected very easily (I went through the DHCR’s process). If it’s incorrect, it’s incorrect — why should the tenant pay just because he there was an error in the landlord’s calculation (assuming there was an error)?
“Legalities aside — is the rent what you agreed to when you moved in?
If so, then while there may be some legal issues that could affect the rent, it doesn’t seem to me that you are being taken advantage of or anything.”
northsloperenter, I totally agree.
Morally speaking, this tenant has no cause to take any action against the owner. Just another case of taking advantage of a sick system that should have been put to rest a long time ago.
“”Legalities aside”? Wow, that’s why we have a dictator as mayor, a private developer stealing land for a basketball team, and a crook running the state senate.”
Crownlfc,
It seems you completely misunderstood what I meant by “Legalities aside”. I shall try to express myself more clearly in the future.
For whatever it is worth, I meant that my comments would ignore legalities.
I did not say this because I wanted to support the destruction of anyone’s legal rights or the city or, for that matter, any other civil institution that exists, previously existed, or may some day exist or be imagined to exist.
I just had nothing to say about the legalities because I do not know them. If JohnBancroft feels the law has been broken, he should act accordingly.
All I know from what he posted is that the previous tenant paid less rent than him and he doesn’t understand why but seems to assume the landlord is breaking the law.
Were he my friend, I would not suggest he run off to file a civil lawsuit. The situation merits further investigation, but law is tricky and complex. I’d wait until more facts were known before jumping to conclusions about what laws may or may not have been violated.
And, as I previously said, I don’t think the current tenant is an injured party here. It’s possible the landlord have done something wrong and the tenant will be the beneficiary of that, but it’s more like winning a lottery than getting justice imho.
LOLcat (and Christopher),
The reason I said “most” instead of “you’re wrong..no tax break” is J-51 and 421-a tax benefits & the reason Tishman Speyer is in trouble with Stuy Town / Peter Cooper village. The recent court ruling said owners improperly raised rents for market-rate tenants while collecting tax breaks under the J-51 program. There are about a million rent stabilized apartments in NYC but a very small fraction get tax benefits through those programs.
I’ll agree that Stuy town owners, and Ratner at AY, are fat cats who trying to enrich themselves while while soaking the public and getting tax breaks. And there are slumlords, but (and perhaps why the “you agreed, you’re immoral to complain” posts) most RS landlords are small potatoes trying to make a living.
John,
To answer your question fully, I would consult with a good tenants only attorney. Show them your rent history and lease. If they feel you have a case, I would let a lawyer shepard it through DHCR. It is quicker and more cost effective than civil court.
You can also contact me if you want more info on my case.
abenig at gmail dot com
But a landlord can not charge what he wants with a Rent Stabilized apartment, there are laws they must follow. Also, your landlord was supposed to give you a vacancy rider with your lease when you moved in explaining how the new rent was reached.
LOLcat,
Wikipedia is a) wrong and b) not the most reliable source…
Stuytown as taking tax breaks because they are eligible for certain ones. Not every stabilized building is eligible for those tax breaks.
The average small building owner is NOT eligible for tax breaks.
Tax abatments and such are generally for zone conversions, large volume owners, etc. Your average owner does not get those incentives.
Christopher and Bklynite,
Well for one, wikipedia disagrees with you (which granted is not the know-it-all of anything but always a decent reference)
Two, both of you seem to acknowledge there is something going on “Most landlord don’t…” (so a few do I suppose?)
“You are wrong, no GREAT tax break/incentive…” Just because it isn’t a great tax break doesn’t mean it isn’t one.
LOLcat @ that!
Also, I acknowledge I may not have the right answer but I was under the impression the reason stuy town lost was because they were still taking tax breaks while the apts were deregulated.
I think the one thing we can all agree on is how confusing these laws are…
What annoys me is the immediate “I’ll take them to court because I know they are in the wrong”
My family has owned stabilized buildings for generations. We’ve dealt with tenants suing over stuff like this. Every time we’ve come out on top because the tenant sues before finding out the facts or properly reviewing the appropriate documents.
We handle all our apartments on the up and up. Some on preferential rents, some on legal. The automatic “landlords are scum and trying to cheat the tenants” has caused us a lot of hassle. Not a dime because we win, bit it’s still a pain.
There is a lot of “landlords suck” on this board, but at the same time tenants aren’t altruistic bastions of perfection. There are a lot of scumbag renters out there too…
What has this got to do with solar powered cars?