Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenants Association

On March 31, 2011, DHCR requested a two-week extension of its time to issue an Advisory Opinion to Justice Lowe concerning the proper rent formulas to use for calculating the current legal rents and past rent overcharges.

On Monday April 4th, the Roberts attorneys submitted a letter to Justice Lowe consenting to the extension and advising the Court that we have reached an agreement with CW Capital’s lawyers that will accommodate the reasonable needs of tenants who may be waiting to see the DHCR’s recommendations before deciding whether to renew for leased terms that begin May 1.

Specifically, the parties have agreed as follows:

(a) all tenants who have received renewal notices that must be responded to on or before April 15, and who wish to renew their lease or remain in their apartment pending review of the DHCR’s opinion, should turn in their signed notices by the date originally requested;

(b) any tenant who elects to renew will have a right to rescind that decision within five (5) days after DHCR issues its Advisory Opinion (for example, until April 15 if the DHCR issues its opinion on April 10, and until April 20, if DHCR issues its opinion on April 15);

(c) all tenants who wish to rescind their election to renew MUST notify the owner within that 5 days that they have rescinded their elections to renew; and

(d) any tenant that timely rescinds his or her election to renew will still be required to pay the first month of the renewal lease at the increased rate requested, and will then have until the end of this first monthly payment period to vacate their unit.  For example, if a tenant who has to renew today has a current term expiring on April 30, he/she would have the option of waiting until May 31 to vacate if DHCR issues its opinion on April 15, but only if (i) the tenant timely notifies the owner of the intention to rescind, and (ii) timely pays the new renewal lease rate for May (rent being due at the beginning of the month).

This proposal is solely as to the present two week extension that DHCR has requested. If DHCR requests a further extension, this proposal would not apply to such further extension and we will need to re-visit this issue at that time.  All parties have reserved all of their rights in the litigation with respect to what the Court should do with respect to the rent formula once DHCR issues its recommendations.

Upon the release of the DHCR’s opinion the Roberts attorneys will post a copy on the Tenants Association website.

The Roberts attorneys wish to further stress that any tenant who agrees to the terms of the renewal lease will, during the period of the lease term, only pay a maximum of the “lower rent to be charged” in line 5 of the Renewal Lease Form.  In the event that it is determined during the tenants’ lease period that the legal rent is in fact less than the “lower rent to be charged” that the tenant agreed to, the attorneys will ask the Court to lower the tenant’s rent to the correct legal rent for the duration of the lease term.  On the other hand, in the event that it is determined that the legal rent is in fact higher than the “lower rent to be charged” specified in the renewal lease, the Owners have represented that the tenant will still only be charged the lower rent for the duration of the lease term, at which point the owners could, upon renewal, ask for a rent up to the correct legal rent.  In other words, if a tenant is comfortable paying the “lower rent to be charged,” they can renew their lease knowing that such amount will be the maximum that they will pay during the renewal lease period, subject to the terms of the Rent Guidelines and Rent Increase Eligibility Rider provided with the renewal lease.  Note, however, that the Owner has reserved its right to raise rents in the event the Rent Stabilization Laws are not renewed this June.  It is not clear whether the Owners would be permitted legally to enforce that right if the RSL expires, and the Roberts lawyers offer no opinion on that subject at this time.  If the RSL does expire, and the Owners elect to raise any tenant’s rent to market value, the Owners have represented in Preferential Rent Rider that they will give the tenant 60 days thereafter to terminate the lease.  For further questions please contact Michael Liskow of Wolf Haldenstein, LLP at liskow at whafh.com, or if you do not have access to email, by phone at (212) 545-4611.