Failure to File Rent Registrations Before Base Rent Date Didn't Prove Fraud

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled against tenant, finding no overcharge. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant moved into the apartment in 1996 and filed his overcharge complaint on July 15, 2013. The base rent date was July 15, 2009. Tenant claimed that there was a rent reduction order, that landlord failed to register the apartment from 1998 - 2000, and had registered a false tenant from 2001 - 2009. But tenant's lease history showed no overcharge. There was no rent reduction order. The fact that landlord may not have filed registrations between 1998 and 2000 was insufficient to prove overcharge, as was any registration of an incorrect tenant name. There was no evidence presented to establish owner fraud as a means to conceal illegal rents. 

Ciprian: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. BX110021R (10/29/14) [4-pg. doc.]