Landlord Didn't Prove Proper Registration

Facts: Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant. Tenant's apartment had been created by combining two adjoining apartments that had been previously rent controlled. The last monthly rent for the two rent-controlled apartments had been $182.18 each. Landlord charged tenant $1,726 per month for the combined new apartment. Tenant claimed rent overcharge and that the apartment wasn't properly registered with the DHCR. Landlord claimed that the apartment was registered at least as of September 1994. Court: Landlord loses. Landlord showed the court a copy of a vacancy decontrol report for tenant's apartment date, stamped as received by the DHCR on Sept. 19, 1994. But there was no proof that landlord ever filed an RR-1 for the apartment or that she filed any annual registrations for 1992, 1993, or 1994. As a penalty, the court reduced tenant's rent to the last rent for the apartment under rent control. The Rent Registration Reform Act of 1993 didn't apply to this case because the first stabilized rent wasn't a legal rent.

Ramiah v. Neri: NYLJ, p. 26, col. 4 (7/19/95) (Civ. Ct. NY; Gische, J)