Four-Year Rule Applied Where Apartment Deregulated on Base Rent Date

Tenant complained of rent overcharge in 2013, two years after moving into her apartment. Tenant paid $2,069 per month under an unregulated vacancy lease. The DRA ruled against tenant, finding that tenant’s apartment was deregulated on the 2009 base rent date four years before tenant filed her complaint. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant claimed that the DHCR had incorrectly advised her to file a rent overcharge complaint instead of a complaint to determine her rent regulatory status where the DHCR would have looked back more than four years. Tenant pointed out that there was no registered rent prior to 2002 when the apartment was registered at $1,800 per month. Tenant argued that this showed a colorable claim of fraud by landlord. She also claimed that she never received a rent stabilization exit notice.

The DHCR found there was no way to verify tenant’s claim that she was misadvised by the DHCR, since there was no written communication. The DRA wasn’t required to first determine the regulatory status of the apartment before it decided tenant’s overcharge claim. The DRA properly applied the four-year rule in this case. Although the DHCR is authorized to investigate facts prior to the base date to determine an apartment’s rent regulatory status based on factors other than the rent level, there was no exception to the four-year rule where the reason for deregulation is the rent level. There also was no indication of fraud in this case. The lack of registrations from 1984-2001, standing alone, is insufficient to prove fraud. The registrations filed from 2002-2008 also showed no fraud. Based on the registered rents, landlord could actually have deregulated the apartment before it did so. Tenant’s apartment was deregulated in 2009, a year before tenant moved in. Landlord wasn’t required to give tenant an exit notice, since she wasn’t the first deregulated tenant. 

Debicella: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. CV210053RT (4/13/15) [6-pg. doc.]