Landlord Didn't Prove It Couldn't Obtain Rent History

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of a rent overcharge. The DHCR ruled for tenant, found the overcharge was willful, and set tenant's legal rent using its default calculation procedure. Landlord appealed, claiming that the DHCR's decision was unreasonable. The court ruled for landlord and sent the case back to the DHCR for reconsideration. The DHCR appealed and won, in part. The DHCR had repeatedly asked landlord to submit rent history records in response to tenant's complaint. Landlord claimed that it couldn't get the records from its prior managing agent because of a fee dispute. But landlord submitted no proof of this, and the DHCR properly used the default procedure to set tenant's rent. However, the DHCR made a mistake as to the timeliness of the overcharge refund landlord offered to tenant. So the court correctly sent the case back to the DHCR to reconsider whether triple damages were warranted.

Bondam Realty Associates, LP v. DHCR: NYLJ, 3/15/10, p. 25, col. 4 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Gonzalez, PJ, DeGrasse, Freedman, Manzanet-Daniels, Roman, JJ)