Landlord Didn't Comply with 1994 Rent Reduction Order
LVT Number: #31337
Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant and found a willful rent overcharge. The DHCR denied landlord's PAR. Landlord then filed an Article 78 court proceeding, claiming that the DHCR's decision was arbitrary and unreasonable. The court ruled against landlord, who appealed and lost.
The DHCR rationally determined that landlord had overcharged tenant, based on a 1994 rent reduction order that was in effect during the four-year period preceding the filing of tenant's overcharge complaint. The fact that landlord partially refunded rent to a subsequent tenant but not to tenant who was affected by the overcharge was insufficient to overcome the presumption of willful rent overcharge and imposition of triple damages. And landlord's failure to comply with the rent freeze imposed by the rent reduction order wasn't a hyper-technical computational error.
Matter of 2758-2760 LLC v. DHCR: App. No. 13372, Case No. 2019-04943, 2021 NY Slip Op 01548 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 3/18/21; Acosta, PJ, Gische, Webber, Gonzalez, JJ)