Landlord Didn't Waive Right to Collect Rent Set by HPD

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge and that landlord failed to offer her a renewal lease on the same terms and conditions as her expiring lease. The DRA combined tenant’s complaints, found no overcharge, and directed landlord to base future rent increases after Sept., 1 2014, on $463 per month. The DRA later reopened the case for reconsideration at landlord’s request and ruled that the legal regulated rent of $615 per month was established by an HPD order effective May 1, 2011, and that landlord could charge this rent at any time after May 1, 2011. Therefore, the legal rent was $615 as of Sept. 1, 2014.

Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant claimed that landlord waived the right to collect $615 when it entered into a 2012 renewal lease at a lower rent of $425. But the DRA had failed to properly consider the HPD order that had established the rent for the apartment and this was an irregularity in a vital matter permitting reconsideration. The $615 rent was a contract between landlord and HPD that allowed landlord to repay a rehabilitation loan. The HPD order didn’t set a specific time limit on landlord’s right to charge the $615 rent or state that the rent must be included in the next renewal lease following the effective date of the order. The DHCR can’t apply the waiver rule to the HPD rent since that would interfere with HPD’s mission.

Disla-Ortiz: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. DV610035RT (1/12/16) [4-pg. doc.]