How Do You Know if Your Apartment Is (or Should Be) Rent-Stabilized?

Q: I have lived in a rent-stabilized apartment on the Upper West Side for more than 12 years. Among the 48 units here, six are currently unoccupied due to liens on the building, incurred because of massive maintenance violations. Last month, the owner sold it to a limited liability company, and a management company has taken over. Now, some tenants are receiving rent invoices at market rates. Should the rents have been raised? The management company has requested our social security numbers and copies of our leases. Do we have to provide this? Shouldn’t the old landlord have handed over our leases?

A: Rent-stabilized apartments do not lose that status just because they’ve been sold. You and your neighbors can request the rent histories of your units from the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) as a first step to determining whether they are in fact rent-stabilized. It’s possible that some of the units in your building are rent-stabilized, while others are not.

Be aware, though, that these histories are often inconclusive and can be misleading. (There is no master list of the million or so rent-stabilized units across New York City.) DHCR or the courts typically have the last word, and it can be a lengthy process.

When a unit is not rent-stabilized, “the burden is on the owner to show that an apartment is properly deregulated,” said Michelle Itkowitz, a lawyer in Brooklyn and host of the “Tenant Law” podcast. The rent can go up if the units are not rent-stabilized, though increases could be limited under the Good Cause Eviction law.

You’re correct that the old owner should have transferred relevant tenant documents to the new owner. Regardless of why that didn’t happen, requesting the lease and other relevant documents is a way to ensure that the landlord has all of the information that you do, and that you begin the landlord-tenant relationship on the same page, said Samuel R. Marchese, a lawyer in Manhattan who handles rent regulation and other real estate matters.

It won’t hurt to share a copy of your lease, but think about whether you want another party to have your social security number. It is illegal to require a social security number as a condition to renewing a rent-stabilized lease, according to DHCR.

Try to work amicably with the new owner, but also consider forming a tenant association to address the problems in your building. “I can tell you without hesitation that one voice is small and many voices are powerful,” Ms. Itkowitz said.

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