Apartment Was Lawfully Deregulated

Tenant complained to the DHCR in 2015 of improper deregulation of his apartment and rent overcharge. The DHCR ruled against tenant, who appealed and lost. Tenant then filed an Article 78 court appeal of the DHCR's decision. The court and appeals court ruled against tenant, finding the DHCR's decision that the apartment had been lawfully deregulated more than four years before tenant filed his complaint to be reasonable. Landlord showed that it performed renovation work at the apartment 10 years before tenant complained and that the apartment then became deregulated due to high-rent vacancy. The DHCR also rationally concluded that there was insufficient proof of fraud requiring it to inquire beyond the base date concerning the overcharge claim. Contrary to tenant's claim, the overcharge claim wasn't subject to more than a four-year lookback because the HSTPA was enacted in 2019, after tenant filed his overcharge complaint. And there was no indication of fraud that would have required a further lookback. The DHCR did look back more than four years for the purpose of determining whether deregulation was proper.

Bazan v. DHCR: App. No. 12614, 2020 NY Slip Op 07449 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 12/10/20; Manzanet-Daniels, JP, Mazzarelli, Gesmer, Moulton, Shulman, JJ)