#dhcr

On Sunday, October 15th [1989], AIDS activist and long-term survivor John Bohne died. His death was sudden, and came as a shock to those who had seen him at a meeting of ACT UP's Treatment and Data Committee that Wednesday, and to those who had seen him Friday, when we went to an appointment at Gay Men's Health Crisis.

Something else happened to him that Friday: he received a "Notice to Quit," the first step in an eviction action, on his apartment. A good friend of his, Mike Frisch, who took John to the hospital on Saturday night, says John was very troubled by the threat of eviction and thinks that it just might have been what broke John's spirit.

John had lived in the Manhattan Valley apartment for more than three years with his lover, Bill McCann, until Bill died in May, 1988. The lease to the apartment was in Bill's name.

How the hell is someone who is fighting a virus inside his body in order to stay alive, and fighting the FDA bureaucracy for access to drugs in order to fight the virus, supposed to muster the energy to fight his landlord in housing court?

In July we all celebrated the Braschi decision, in which the New York State Court of Appeals said gay couples could legally be considered families. Specifically, the case involved a couple who had been living together in an apartment for ten years. The man in whose name the lease was held died of AIDS, and the landlord attempted to evict the survivor. The court decision granted him succession rights to the lease, and stated that "the term family...should not be rigidly restricted to those people who have formalized their relationship by obtaining, for instance, a marriage certificate or an adoption order."

Then why was John Bohne's landlord able to refuse to renew his lease and try to evict him?

One reason is that the Braschi decision has yet to be translated into specific enforceable regulations. Nearly four months after the decision, it has not been implemented. What's happening?

It depends on who you ask. Tom Viola, a spokesperson for the state's Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), says "We are seeking a legislative solution. If that is thwarted, then we'll go administratively." The problem with that is that the Republican-controlled State Senate has for years refused to extend lease protections to non-married partners, and has refused any protection for lesbians and gays, even in the context of bias-related violence. So it really is a foregone conclusion that legislative efforts to bring the law into accor- dance with the Braschi decision will be thwarted.

Our advocates seem somewhat more hopeful. Lesbian and gay and tenant groups have been lobbying DHCR to issue administrative regulations. According to attorney William Rubinstein of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who won the Braschi case, that victory "gave us great impetus and power at the bargaining table.II Another attorney involved in the talks, Evan Wolfson of the lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, reports that "They [DHCR] have agreed in principle to protect the family in a comprehensive and realistic way, including lesbian and gay families." But, says Rubinstein, "We would have liked to have seen something happen by now."

Time is of the essence. It is AIDS which made the whole issue of succession rights so pressingly important to our community, and AIDS which makes so many of the very people who stand to be protected by these regulations so vulnerable. The last thing anyone living with AIDS needs is a legal battle to keep his or her home.

As the people fighting for housing for homeless PWAs have been stressing, a home is a precondition for survival: what use is medical care without a stable and nurturing living environment?

This week it was John Bohne, and presumably others in similar straits, who received eviction threats. John Bohne was dead less than 48 hours later. Who will it be next week?

Will it take four more months for the principle affirmed by Braschi to be given force in state regulations?

Filing with the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) is more than just standard paperwork for New York landlords who manage rent-regulated apartments, it serves as the foundation for compliance. When completed correctly, DHCR filings protect your right to collect legal rent, keep you in compliance with state housing laws, and prevent costly legal disputes. If done improperly, they may result in fines, delay rent increases, or, worse, lead to lengthy tenant disputes.

With an emphasis on what to file, when to file, and how to avoid common pitfalls, this guide walks you through every stage of filing with DHCR. This tutorial will give you the confidence you need to handle DHCR filings, no matter how many rent-stabilized buildings you own or manage throughout the city.

What Is DHCR Filing and Why Does It Matter?

The DHCR is the state agency that administers rent regulation in New York. If your property includes rent-stabilized units, you are legally obligated to register those apartments with DHCR and keep filings up to date.

According to the NY rent guidelines DHCR framework, filing is a statutory requirement and is not optional. While other filings deal with matters such as significant capital improvements, hardship petitions or requests for the deregulation of an apartment, annual registrations record the legally regulated rent for each unit.

Why DHCR Filing Matters

• Legal compliance: Without proper filings, the rent you’re charging may be considered unlawful even if it’s in line with market rates.

• Rent increases: You cannot apply lawful increases if filings are missing or incomplete.

• Protection in disputes: Accurate, timely filings provide a paper trail that supports your case if tenants challenge you.

• Avoiding penalties: Failing to file can lead to fines and limit your ability to enforce lease terms.

Think of DHCR filing as both a shield and a ticket: it shields you from tenant claims and gives you the authorization to lawfully adjust rents when permitted.

Step 1 — Determine Which DHCR Filings Apply to You

The first step is clarity. Not all filings are created equal, and which ones you need depends on your building and tenant circumstances.

Common Filings Every Landlord Should Know

1. Annual Rent Registration (ARR) – required for every rent-stabilized unit.

2. Initial Registration – triggered when a unit first becomes rent-stabilized.

3. Petitions and Applications – for Major Capital Improvements (MCI), Individual Apartment Improvements (IAI), hardship petitions, or deregulation requests.

4. Responses to the DHCR complaint process – such as tenant service reduction complaints or building code violations.

📌 Tip: Visit the DHCR website or consult a rent-regulation attorney to verify exactly what applies to your property. Skipping a required filing because you assumed it didn’t apply is a fast track to penalties.

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Step 2 — Gather and Organize Your Documentation

Think of the DHCR rent registration process as building a legal case: you need evidence. The smoother your documentation, the easier and faster the filing.

Key Documents You’ll Need

• Lease agreements (current and prior)

• Rent rolls and payment histories

• Previous DHCR registrations for each unit

• Proof of improvements (receipts, invoices, permits)

• Financial statements for hardship petitions

📂 Example: Suppose you’re filing for a Major Capital Improvement increase after installing a new elevator. You’ll need contractor contracts, proof of payment, and permits. DHCR is meticulous if documents aren’t airtight, expect delays or denials.

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Step 3 — Choose the Correct Filing Method

The DHCR filing process can be completed online, by mail, or in person. Online filing through the official DHCR Rent Registration Portal is the fastest and provides instant confirmation. Always use the most recent forms available on the DHCR site older versions are frequently rejected.

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Step 4 — Complete the Forms Accurately

Success depends on accuracy. Disputes may arise from even a minor error in your rent figures or tenant information. Before submitting, carefully review all information. When determining allowable increases, confirm the DHCR requirements and the NY rent guidelines.

🖊️ Example: If your lease reflects a $1,650 monthly rent but you mistakenly enter $1,605 on the registration form, DHCR will flag the discrepancy. Small errors often lead to larger disputes if tenants contest them.

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Step 5 — Submit Before the Deadline

DHCR filing deadlines are non-negotiable. Missing even one can block lawful rent increases and create compliance issues. Always file ahead of time and retain proof of submission for your records.

Key Deadlines

• Annual Rent Registration: Due by July 31st each year.

• Petitions and Applications: Deadlines vary but are tied to lease terms or completion of improvements.

📌 Best Practice: File early to allow time for corrections if DHCR flags an issue.

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Step 6 — Follow Up and Respond Promptly

After submitting, keep an eye on your DHCR account for any requests or updates from DHCR. Responding promptly and professionally helps you avoid delays and demonstrates compliance, particularly when handling DHCR complaint procedures or follow-up questions about rent inconsistencies.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Missing or late submissions

2. Using outdated forms

3. Failing to respond to DHCR complaints on time

4. Errors in rent calculations or missing attachments

5. Ignoring tenant correspondence

Actionable Tips for Smooth DHCR Filings

• Create a compliance calendar with all DHCR deadlines.

• Digitize your records for easy access.

• Cross-check rent renewals with registration accuracy.

• Consult experts for complex MCIs or hardship petitions.

• Stay updated on all NY rent guidelines DHCR changes.

If navigating the DHCR filing process feels overwhelming or you’re unsure how to handle rent registrations, petitions, or tenant complaints.

Smart Key Property Management is here to help. Our experts handle compliance, documentation, and communication with DHCR on your behalf so you can focus on managing your property stress-free.

👉 Contact Us today to simplify your filings and stay fully compliant with New York rent regulations.

Final Thoughts

Mastering how to file with DHCR is an investment in stability, not just compliance. Proper DHCR rent registration ensures lawful rent collection, smoother tenant relations, and long-term protection for your property.

By understanding the DHCR filing process and staying proactive, landlords can avoid disputes and keep their operations efficient under the NY rent guidelines DHCR system.

If you’ve lived in New York City, you know that finding an apartment is no easy task. And once you find your abode, staying put is sometimes even harder. Many of you have felt that dreaded feeling when your lease is about to expire and you wait for the new lease-renewal-rate, wondering if you’ll be able to afford the new rent or be forced out to a new neighborhood or smaller apartment

But then there are the people that are not left completely in the dark- those with rent-stabilized apartments. In those units, rents can only be raised at regulated amounts each year, giving tenants added security that they can probably stay put for much longer.

The funny thing about rent stabilization is that raw data on it is hard to access.   Where can you find rent-stabilized apartments? How many are in each building? Our government lists the names of buildings that are stabilized, but gives us no indication of the number of units in each building that are stabilized. This oddly leaves us all in the dark about how many affordable units there are in any specific area of our city.  

Enter John Krauss, (the man behind the NYPD Crash Data Bandaid I’ve covered before).  After hearing through a FOIL request that it would cost the city $50,000 to deliver the building-by-building data (which implies that the city itself does have the data readily available),  John, and some peers at BetaNYC, went about scraping the tax bills for NYC buildings to get the rent stabilization information out of PDFs. This is presumably a much harder task than it would have been for New York State’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), since the State has raw numbers in a database.  Nonetheless, John was able to pull it off and build a beautiful map of every rent stabilized building in NYC.  And being the good open data steward he is, he also posted the accompanying parsed raw data from the tax bills for us all to see.

And with that, amazingly for the very first time in our city’s history, we have some transparency on rent stabilization data at the individual unit level!  

This is exactly what open data is good for.  Now New Yorkers and government officials alike can really see what is happening at a granular level in their neighborhoods. 

Given that the data is now free from the favorite anti-open format–the PDF– I set about aggregating some of the raw statistics to find out where in the city we are losing rent stabilized apartments the fastest. (Note there are a few different ways that stabilized apartments become destabilized, like for example when they become vacant and the legal rent exceeds $2,500–commonly referred to as vacancy decontrol.  For more background see DHCR’s FAQ on destabilization). 

For each City Council district (using 2014 boundaries),  I mapped out the percent change in affordable housing from 2007 - 2014, with red indicating larger drops.  (Clicking on any single district will give you its stats.) 

Leading the way in rent stabilized losses was Ben Kallos’ District 5 in the Upper East Side, which the data shows has lost an astounding 31% of its rent stabilized housing units in just eight years, going from a little under 30,000 to just above 20,000 in that period of time.  That’s 10,000 units lost in just one council district.  The Upper West Side’s Council District 6 (Helen Rosenthal’s district) did not do much better, losing 7,500 units or just about 23 percent of them over this period. The fact that these neighborhoods faced the biggest losses in rent stabilized is unsurprising, with rents surely climbing well above the $2,500 mark. But the magnitude of the loss in recent years is what is striking. By contrast, the district with the largest net gain in units was Carmen Arroyo’s District 17 in the South Bronx, which added a comparably small 3,600 units. 

I also created a table of the top ten gaining and losing districts by percentage from 2007 to 2014.

Since Council Districts cut across many neighborhoods, looking at this data on a neighborhood level provides an even more detailed look at where we are losing (and gaining) rent stabilized housing.  

At a neighborhood level, we see that the largest drop in number of rent stabilized units took place in the Upper West Side, which saw a drop from about 26,000 to 19,000, or about a 27% loss.  Yorkville and Lenox Hill-Roosevelt Avenue are number two and three on this list.

Interestingly, some neighborhoods have seen their counts go up. Stuyvesant Town/Cooper Village had the largest net increase, adding 3,200 units after a lawsuit reclassified many of the units in that area.  Rent-stabilized housing also increased in neighborhoods where development was on the rise, like Battery Park City and DUMBO, as developers added rent stabilized units in exchange for tax credits (though these stabilized units traditionally face expiration dates).

Mapping out the city’s loss in affordable housing reveals an interesting trend. The data shows that we are losing units much faster than they can be replaced, and we know that most of the increases reported through new construction are only temporarily affordable. There is a fair bit of irony in the fact that renters are losing protection in some of our most affluent neighborhoods, as those are precisely the neighborhoods where they may need it the most. 

The only borough that seems to have seen modest increases in rent-stabilized housing over the last eight years is the Bronx, (though again, those increases may not provide the permanent affordability that one would hope for.)  Overall the city has lost about 50,000 units- about 35,000 of them in Manhattan alone.

If the de Blasio administration is as serious about affordable housing as they say they are, it’s time for some transparency on this issue, either by the City’s Department of Finance, which has access to the data, or the state which collects it and is responsible for rent regulation in New York. In this new era of open data, you should not need to know how to write a PDF scraper to find a reasonably priced place to live, or discover where you are about to lose one.

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Tax Data from here. Council and Neighborhood Shape Files here.

A useful article from New York Law Journal:

This is the back of one of the fifteen 2012 roof photos submitted to DHCR as evidence of TELECOM TENANCY at 517 West 113.

There are two MCIs in play at DHCR:

Elevator MCI Docket AN43005OM and related BO430061RT

Boiler MCI Docket BP430014OM

You can check the status of each at:

https://www1.dhcr.state.ny.us/casestatus/

Enter the Docket Number.