Four-Year Rule Applied Since No Fraud by Landlord

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant, found that tenant's legal base date rent was $694 per month, and ordered landlord to refund a total overcharge of $116, including interest. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant claimed that the overcharge was willful, that a prior court-ordered settlement agreement set the base date rent at $650, and that the four-year rule should be pierced because landlord ignored the court's ruling. The DHCR found that in light of the small difference in the amount of rent and the passage of 17 months between the court order and the four-year base date, there was no reason for the DHCR to suspect fraud by landlord and therefore no basis to ignore the four-year rule. And the court stipulation wasn't a DHCR order like a rent reduction order that the agency could enforce when it predated the four-year base date. Tenant could have filed an overcharge complaint sooner if she wished to enforce the court stipulation.

Rodriguez: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. ZJ210036RT (4/23/13) [3-pg. doc.]