DHCR Won't Accept Missing Lease Record Submitted for First Time with PAR

Tenant complained to the DHCR of rent overcharge in 2016, claiming that she was never advised by landlord that she was rent stabilized, and had recently received a renewal lease offer seeking to revoke what landlord falsely characterized a preferential rent. The DRA ruled for tenant, finding that landlord failed to show that it collected a preferential rent on the base rent date, and ordering landlord to refund $5,205, including triple damages.

Landlord appealed and lost. The DHCR refused to consider the 2012 base date lease that landlord produced for the first time with its PAR. Although landlord claimed that it hadn't found the document in storage until after the DRA's order was issued, the fact that the lease may have been misplaced or located in another office wasn't a reasonable excuse for failing to produce it. And tenant's complaint had been pending for more than two years before the DRA issued a decision. It was also unfair, on appeal, to allow a party to rewrite the factual record by producing proof that wasn't submitted to the DRA.

93 Halsey, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. IS210020RK (1/26/21) [4-pg. doc.]