1996 Rent Reduction Order Applies to Freeze Rent

Rent-stabilized tenant complained in 2015 of rent overcharge based on a 1996 rent reduction order that was still in effect. The DRA ruled for tenant and froze the 2011 base date rent at $650 based on the rent reduction order. Landlord was ordered to refund $15,458, including interest, and had already done so through a rent credit to tenant. Tenant's rent also was restored to $1,022 as of October 2014 under a separate DHCR rent restoration order.

Landlord appealed and lost, claiming that reliance on the 1996 rent reduction order was arbitrary and unreasonable. Landlord pointed out that, in the 2016 court decision in Napa Properties v. DHCR, Index No. 11928/15, a Queens County court had reversed another DHCR decision that applied an old rent reduction order to find a rent overcharge. But that court decision was subsequently reversed by an appeals court in February 2018. The DHCR properly relied on the 2010 decision by New York's highest court in Cintron v. Calogero to apply a rent freeze resulting from a DHCR rent reduction order, even if the rent reduction order was issued more than four years before tenant filed an overcharge complaint.

Napa Partners LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. EW110060RO (5/31/18) [4-pg. doc.]