Insufficient Proof to Support Tenant's Rent Fraud Claim

Tenant complained of rent overcharge and improper deregulation of his apartment. Landlord claimed that the apartment was vacancy deregulated in 2006 and that it filed an exit registration with the DHCR at that time. The DRA agreed that the apartment was exempt from rent stabilization and dismissed the complaint. Tenant appealed and lost. While the Rent Stabilization Code permits review of pre-base date rent history to determine if there was a fraudulent scheme to deregulate the apartment, in this case tenant failed to set forth sufficient proof of a fraudulent scheme to warrant consideration of the pre-base date rent history. The rent increase for the apartment from $803 in 2005 to above $2,000 wasn't per se fraud. Landlord also submitted proof that a gut renovation performed in 2005 permitted a rent increase for individual apartment improvements (IAIs). Tenant claimed that there was an error in the calculation of the IAI rent increase. But the DHCR doesn't have to review every aspect of the pre-base date rent calculation. There also were multiple subsequent tenants after the IAIs that permitted additional rent increases. 

Zanetti: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. FR410020RT (4/23/18) [4-pg. doc.]