Landlord Didn't Submit Timely Proof of Apartment Deregulation

Deregulated tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant and found that he was rent stabilized and had been overcharged. Landlord appealed and lost. With its PAR, landlord submitted documents showing that the prior tenant's last rent was $1,315, and that landlord charged a 17 percent vacancy increase and $638 per month for individual apartment improvements (IAIs). Landlord charged the complaining tenant $1,795 per month but claimed it was entitled to do so and remain deregulated since the legal rent after calculating the lawful increases was over $2,000. Landlord also submitted rent ledgers from November 2007 through April 2013 and invoices, contracts, and cancelled checks for the IAIs. Landlord stated that it didn't submit these documents to the DRA because it didn't believe it had to respond. The DHCR wouldn't consider landlord's proof on appeal because landlord presented no reasonable excuse for its default. In addition, the deregulated lease landlord gave tenant didn't explain how the rent was calculated, and the 2011 "exit registration" filed by landlord was an unaudited landlord's statement. And even if the DHCR accepted landlord's proof, the rent ledgers didn't go back to the September 2007 base date, weren't independently verified, and there was no proof that they were made at the time of actual rent payment.

Ospina: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. BO210026RO (7/10/14) [2-pg. doc.]