Rules or Formulas for New Rent Upon Vacancy Decontrol?

A few weeks ago one of our rent **control** tenants passed away at the ripe old age of 94\. I just spent a couple of hours on the DHCR website trying to find out what the rules are for establishing a new rent for the apartment. The rent was crazy low ($142.00/month) for a large one bedroom. I’m quite certain the apartment will now fall into Rent Stabilization, but again, I don’t know how much we can raise the rent and what part renovation will play in establishing the first rent. Can anyone point to a definitive fact sheet or section of code that answers this question? Many thanks.

ermagod

in Landlord 11 years and 6 months ago

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mrohrmann | 11 years and 6 months ago

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Join the rent stabilization association and talk to one of their associates and/or lawyers, they will be able to guide you through the rules. Trust me it will be the best ~$100 you ever spent and save you tons of time dealing with the DHCR.

no-permits | 11 years and 6 months ago

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congratulations as well. you can raise the rent to whatever you can get (fair market). like another poster said, if the rent exceeds $2,500 the unit is deregulated, if not it remains under stabilization. it’s that simple.

MrHancock | 11 years and 6 months ago

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A few weeks ago one of our rent control tenants passed away at the ripe old age of 94\. **CONGRATULATIONS**

ermagod | 11 years and 6 months ago

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Good advice. Thanks again.

bk1lnite | 11 years and 6 months ago

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Yeah, that was why I was suggesting you call the DHCR rent infoline to avoid getting tripped up on a technicality that defies common sense. Also, talk to an RSA counselor if you’re an RSA member. I missed the fact sheet in my first post that talks about a FMRA http://www.nyshcr.org/Rent/FactSheets/orafac6.htm

ermagod | 11 years and 6 months ago

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Thanks for those links. I see that if we don’t notify the tenant of his or her right to a “Fair Market Rent Appeal” we could risk being limited to a 30% increase which would bring us all the way up to $185\. Wow! Just an observation here. If a tenant voluntarily rents the apartment at the rent we ask, doesn’t the very definition of “fair market value” prove the rent is legal? With the crazy rent laws, apparently not.

bk1lnite | 11 years and 6 months ago

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From my reading of the dhcr website, you can charge the next tenant market rent and it becomes rent stabilized with that new initial rent. http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/faq/rentcontrol.html#prior If market is > $2500 you may be able to make it permanently free market. http://www.nyshcr.org/Rent/FactSheets/orafac36.pdf If a “family member” can make a case that they’ve lived there for 2 years and get succession rights, you’d get a vacancy allowance of 20% + years since the last vacancy increase x .6% and the apartment would still be under rent control. http://www.nyshcr.org/Rent/FactSheets/orafac30.htm Renovation before the next tenant moves in will increase the market rent which is certainly worth doing. For a future succession between rent stabilized tenants, you could do an Individual Apartment Improvement and increase the legal rent by 1/40th of the cost of the IAI. http://www.nyshcr.org/Rent/factsheets/orafac12.htm I would suggest you contact the DHCR (718) 739-6400 and make sure you do the right paperwork for this transition.