Four-Year Rule Is Constitutional

Rent-stabilized tenant moved into his apartment on April 1, 1985, and filed a rent overcharge complaint on June 12, 1990. The DRA ruled for tenant based on landlord's failure to send tenant an amended RR-1 registration form in 1985. This resulted in a rent freeze, and landlord was ordered to refund $14,000 to tenant, including triple damages. Landlord appealed in 1994, claiming that it had properly filed the 1985 rent registration and that there was no actual overcharge. The DHCR ruled for landlord in 1998, finding that because tenant's complaint was filed on June 12, 1990, tenant's claim and the DHCR's examination of rent-history records was limited to the period commencing June 12, 1986. Tenant appealed, claiming that the 1997 amendment to the rent stabilization law, which the DHCR relied on in its decision, was unconstitutional. The court ruled against tenant, finding that the law was constitutional. The rent stabilization law didn't give tenant any ''vested'' property interest, and the changes to the law made by the Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997 didn't really change the four-year statute of limitations that already existed.

Gelston v. DHCR: NYLJ, p. 32, col. 6 (6/17/98) (Sup. Ct. Queens; Milano, J)