Landlord Filed Late Registration

Landlord sued to evict tenant for nonpayment of rent. Tenant claimed a rent overcharge based on landlord's failure to file an initial rent registration statement. The court ruled for tenant and found there was a willful rent overcharge. Landlord appealed, claiming that there was no overcharge because he'd completed a late filing of the missing registration statement. The appeals court ruled for landlord. The rent stabilization law provides that if rent increases are otherwise legal, there can be no finding of a prior rent overcharge once a late registration is delivered to tenant and filed with the DHCR. Landlord had shown that the initial registration was filed late in December 1997. So tenant's payment of otherwise legal rent between July 1996 and June 1997 couldn't be the basis for an overcharge claim. The lower court also incorrectly imposed triple damages for a willful overcharge. Triple damages don't apply when the only reason for the overcharge finding is not registering an apartment.

Gruss v. Cheung: NYLJ 1/25/00, p. 26, col. 1 (App. T.1 Dept.; McCooe, JP, Freedman, Davis, JJ)