Landlord Entitled to Collect Rent Increase for IAIs

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant and ordered landlord to refund $692, including triple damages. Tenant appealed and lost. After tenant filed his PAR, the HSTPA was enacted on June 14, 2019, and the DHCR sent the case back to the DRA for recalculation of any overcharge using a six-year lookback period instead of the four-year period already applied. But, while the PAR was pending, New York's highest court revoked retroactive application of the HSTPA amendments to overcharge cases that were pending when HSTPA took effect. So the DHCR made its decision based solely on the claims made in tenant's PAR. Tenant objected to the individual apartment improvement (IAI) rent increases that the DRA had approved. But tenant never claimed that the IAIs weren't performed. And landlord submitted sufficient proof of the work to justify the IAI rent increase. 

Moulton: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. IS210015RK (3/24/21) [5-pg. doc.]