DHCR Won't Consider Complaint of Tenant Who Already Started Court Case

Tenant complained to the DHCR of rent overcharge, claiming that landlord gave him a nonregulated lease in violation of the Rent Stabilization Law. The DRA dismissed the complaint because tenant already had started a pending complaint against landlord in State Supreme Court. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant filed the rent overcharge complaint three years before he filed his DHCR complaint. That complaint was still pending, and there was no indication that the Court had stayed that case or stated that it would defer to the DHCR. So it was reasonable for the DRA to terminate this case because tenant filed the Court complaint first. Tenant’s claim that the Court won’t fairly judge his complaint based on its interim rulings to date wasn’t grounds for the DHCR to decide the claim.

Johnson: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. ER410050RT (12/2/16) [3-pg. doc.]