Your pricey apartment could actually be rent-stabilized.

That’s the case for Manhattan artist Richard Carroll Jr., who told Gothamist he unknowingly lived in a rent-stabilized apartment for nearly two decades. Carroll didn’t learn the truth until he was fighting for his lease in court. 

When Carroll moved into his Harlem apartment in 2004, his landlord gave him a deal. Instead of paying the $2,000 a month assigned on the lease, Carroll paid a preferential rent of just $1,200, according to court records. 

Carroll had little way of knowing that the previous tenant paid less than $500 per month.

The truth came to light when Carroll went to housing court in 2022 over an eviction notice from his landlord, who took over the building after Carroll moved in. 

“I was robbed for $1,000 a month for 20-something years. That’s how I felt,” Carroll told Gothamist.

In the intervening years, Carroll’s apartment fell into “total decay” — a broken stove here, a rat infestation there — but he was not behind on rent, which had increased to $1,425 a month, according to court records. The building’s owner claimed his lease had expired.

At his lawyer’s urging, Carroll told Gothamist that he requested the rent history of his unit. New Yorkers have to submit a formal records request to the State’s Division of Housing and Community Renewal to get this information. 

Online rental platforms don’t always show the full picture. For instance, StreetEasy rental transaction records for Carroll’s building only go as far back as 2022.

Records revealed that Carroll’s apartment was registered as rent-stabilized in the 1980s through the early aughts, according to Gothamist. The legal regulated rent was listed as $489.50 in 2002, according to court records. 

Now-defunct allowances for rent hikes on vacant, stabilized units allowed the previous owner to claim the apartment was deregulated in 2003 — the current owner argued as much in court, claiming improvements made by the previous owner allowed for deregulation. Housing court Judge Jack Stoller ruled that they did not.

Disputes about whether a unit is rent-regulated are common, experts told Gothamist. Uncertainty about a unit’s status is detrimental for building owners as well as residents. Investors who buy formerly rent-stabilized buildings have to rely on the record-keeping of its previous landlords, but not every buyer does their due diligence.

The law in 2004 would have required the Harlem building’s prior owner to spend $56,000 renovating the unit, Stoller wrote. Subpoenaed DOB records indicated that the owner spent approximately $22,000.

Stoller ultimately ruled that Carroll is a rent-stabilized tenant, and wrote that eviction without cause was not permitted. The building’s owner is appealing the case.

A new law passed by City Councilmember Sandy Nurse earlier this year aims to prevent stories like Carroll’s. The bill requires buildings with rent-stabilized units to post signs advertising it, with information to find out whether your unit qualifies. 

“I would never have known,” Carroll told Gothamist. “They could have done anything to me, and I would’ve had to leave and never have known my rights.”

Despite a housing court ruling in his favor, Carroll said he doesn’t expect to get his money back. He told the outlet that he is waiting for a new monthly rent. He hopes it is lower.