$42,000 Overcharge Revoked After Landlord Filed Late Registration

(Decision submitted by Perry Lubov and Marcia Hirsch of the Queens law firm of Horing & Welikson, attorneys for the landlord.) Landlord sued to evict tenant for nonpayment of rent. Tenant claimed a rent overcharge. In June 1993, the court ruled for tenant, finding a $42,000 overcharge. The reason for the overcharge was that landlord had never registered the apartment with the DHCR. Tenant was the first stabilized tenant; he'd moved into the apartment in 1989. The legal rent for the time there was no registration was frozen at the prior rent-controlled rent. Once the apartment was registered, landlord could raise the rent prospectively to what he'd been charging. In July 1993, the state passed the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1993. The new law says that landlords who file late registrations can keep any lawful stabilized rents that they collected during the period that an apartment wasn't registered. Landlord asked the court to reconsider the case in light of the new law. The court did so, and ruled for landlord. Landlord had filed the late registration in July 1993. There was no overcharge because the past rent collected was otherwise lawful.

Goldman v. Porges: Index No. 086584/92 (9/10/93) (Civ. Ct. NY; Gasworth, J) [3-page document]