Default Formula Applied to Overcharge Calculation Where No Base Date Lease Submitted

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge in 2018. The DRA ruled for tenant and ordered landlord to refund $21,443, including triple damages. Landlord appealed and lost. The DRA correctly determined that the apartment's 2014 base date rent was $1,259 based on the default formula applied because landlord failed to provide base date rental records. The default calculation was based on the lowest stabilized rent for a similar-sized apartment in the building. Tenant's initial legal regulated rent was $1,488, and tenant paid a preferential rent of $1,400. But a DHCR rent freeze order effective Aug. 1, 2018, made the collectible rent $1,259 through May 2022. Triple damages also were correctly imposed.

Pistilli Walton Avenue, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. KT610013RO (2/6/23)[3-pg. document]