Application of Prior Rent Reduction Order Not Barred by Four-Year Rule

Tenant complained of a rent overcharge in 2006. The DRA found no overcharge between 2002 and the date tenant filed his complaint. But in 1995, the DHCR had reduced the rent for prior tenant based on a reduction in services. Landlord never filed an application to restore rent. When prior tenant moved out, landlord renovated the apartment and spent over $15,000 on 1/40th improvements. The DRA ruled for tenant, and froze tenant's rent for the four years before complaint was filed to the level in effect under the rent reduction order. Landlord appealed and lost. The four-year limit on review of an apartment's rent history doesn't bar the DHCR from imposing a rent freeze set by a prior rent reduction order. Landlord's duty to comply with the prior order continues. New landlord's ignorance of the rent reduction order also was no excuse. The DHCR found that the overcharge was willful.

312 East 106th St. R.E., LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev.Docket No. VC410045RO (5/25/07) [3-pg. doc.]