$29,000 Overcharge

Tenant complained of a rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant and ordered landlord to refund $29,700, including triple damages. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that there was no willful overcharge, but merely a mistake made by registering the 2003 rent to include a sublet allowance. But the DRA didn’t use the 2003 registered rent to determine the legal rent since the base date was March 7, 2003. Tenant paid $1,375 per month in December 2006 when he moved in. The prior tenant paid $688. Landlord claimed that it made apartment improvements costing $19,000 and that $10,000 of the cost was for labor. But landlord failed to sufficiently document the improvement costs, and there were other inconsistencies in its explanation of the rent history.

93rd Building Corp.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. YA410002RO (2/4/10) [3-pg. doc.]