Base Date Rent Set by Default Formula

Tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant and set the base date rent by using the default formula. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that the apartment was reconfigured into a duplex before the base rent date and that it therefore was entitled to set a market rent. But landlord didn't submit proof of the base date rent in form or a lease or ledger. Landlord merely offered a "tenant summary" indicating that prior tenant moved out on Aug. 31, 2012, paying a monthly rent of $3,450, and a rent ledger for a tenant that began on Oct. 1, 2014. Neither of those documents covered the Oct. 18, 2013, base date. So the DRA correctly set a base date rent by using the statutory default rent formula. This froze the rent from the base date and didn't permit the addition of rent increases, including annual guideline increases that occurred after the rent freeze date. 

15 Humboldt LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. GS210049RO (4/15/19) [3-pg. doc.]