DHCR Won't Consider New Proof Former Owner Set Tenant's Initial Rent

Former rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant, finding that he was the first rent-stabilized tenant of the apartment, reducing that rent, and directing landlord to refund $2,350, including triple damages. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord argued that it bought the building from the New York City Partnership Housing Development Fund Corporation in 2012, that the HDFC had set the initial rent-stabilized rent for tenant under a regulatory agreement with the NYC Housing Development Corporation (HDC), and that there was no overcharge. But the DHCR stated that landlord couldn't raise this new claim for the first time in its PAR and refused to consider this new evidence. 

1405 Fifth Avenue Apartments, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. EX410061RO (7/12/17) [4-pg. doc.]