roommate question rent stabilized
the rent law only allows a rent stabilized tenant to charge 50% of the rent to a roommate. question : are there any DHCR decisions which allow a furniture surcharge if the roommate agrees to it ? Must be reasonable maybe 10% . i know they allow that in the law for sublets but it…
the rent law only allows a rent stabilized tenant to charge 50% of the rent to a roommate.
question : are there any DHCR decisions which allow a furniture surcharge if the roommate agrees to it ? Must be reasonable maybe 10% . i know they allow that in the law for sublets but it does not apply to roommates. Im wondering if it can be added in the roommate agreement. thanks
Surely, you could get around any issues if you wished. Whatever the rent split, you can agree that the roommate pays all utilities, etc. Not sure it matters in the end; my wife shared a rent controlled LES apartment for several years and she clearly was paying well in excess of the entire rent (which probably was about $400).
RGB faq says the amount a roommate may be charged by the prime tenant cannot exceed their “proportionate share”
http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/faq/roommates.html
You could send an email to Ask@housingnyc.com or call and see if there’s a DHCR opinion letter.
nytimes.com:
Rules That Govern Sharing the Rent
Q.
I am a tenant in a rent-stabilized two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan and have taken in a roommate. We orally agreed that she would pay 60 percent of the rent and I would sign two-year renewal leases for the apartment. But when the lease was renewed in September with an 8 percent increase, the roommate refused to pay her share of the increase. What can I do?
A.
Martin Heistein, a Manhattan lawyer who represents property owners, said that under state law, every rent-stabilized tenant has the right, with certain limitations, to have one roommate. The roommate can be charged only his or her proportionate share of the rent.
“There is much litigation on what constitutes a ‘proportionate share,’ †Mr. Heistein said, “but the 60/40 split would probably be upheld.â€
Regarding the roommate’s refusal to pay the increase, he said, the remedy is for the writer to start an eviction proceeding in the New York City Housing Court, where it will be up to the writer to prove that the roommate agreed to pay increases on subsequent renewals.