Court Grants Pre-Trial Questioning on Rent Overcharge Claim

Landlord sued to evict month-to-month tenant when tenant's lease expired, claiming that the apartment was deregulated. Tenant claimed that the apartment was improperly deregulated and that there was a rent overcharge. Tenant asked the court for permission to conduct pretrial questioning. Landlord argued that discovery wasn't warranted because there was no substantial indication of fraud requiring examination of the apartment's rent history beyond the four years preceding the date of the overcharge claim.

The court ruled for tenant to permit tenant's document demand from landlord. The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, enacted on June 14, 2019, amended Rent Stabilization Law Section 26-516(h) and authorizes the court to examine "all available rent history which is reasonably necessary" to determine the legal regulated rent and investigate overcharges. The amended law permits the court to consider "any rent registration or other records" filed with the DHCR regardless of the date to which the information refers. The amended law took effect immediately and applies to any pending claims. So, the scope of tenant's discovery request isn't limited by the statute of limitations in CPLR Section 213-a or by the prior body of case law requiring a sufficient showing of fraud.

In addition, there was a sufficient indication of fraud to warrant a look back beyond the statute of limitations. DHCR rent registrations for the apartment showed that two rent increases taken in 2002 and 2004 raised the apartment rent 84 percent over the $792 monthly rent charged to a prior tenant. And a challenge to an apartment's rent regulatory status isn't subject to a statute of limitations.

3440 Broadway BCR LLC v. Greenfield: 64 Misc.3d 1217(A), 2019 NY Slip Op 51194(U) (Civ. Ct. NY; 7/19/19; Capell, J)