Landlord Filed Late Initial Registration

Landlord sued to evict rent-stabilized tenant for nonpayment of rent. Tenant claimed landlord had collected a rent overcharge. The trial court ruled for landlord but limited the amount of rent owed. Tenant appealed. The appeals court reduced the amount of back rent due. Tenant had moved into the apartment in 1989 at a monthly rent of $1,100. Tenant was the first stabilized tenant; the apartment had previously been rent-controlled. Landlord didn't file the initial apartment registration until June 1993. The rent was otherwise lawful except for the failure to register on time. Under a 1993 amendment to the rent stabilization law, landlord wasn't found to have collected a rent overcharge for the period prior to the filing of the late registration statement. But landlord was barred from suing for and collecting rent withheld by the tenant for the period between May 1992 and May 1993. That was the period before landlord filed the registration with the DHCR, when landlord was only allowed to collect $176, the last rent-controlled rent. The total back rent owed by tenant was reduced to reflect the difference between $1,100 and $176 for the year between May 1992 and May 1993.

Goldman v. Porges: NYLJ, p. 25, col. 1 (3/28/95) (App. T. 1 Dept.; Ostrau, PJ, Miller, McCooe, JJ)