Landlord Never Filed Initial Registration

Landlord sued to evict tenant for nonpayment of rent. Before tenant moved in, landlord had combined two rent-stabilized apartments into one, and filed an annual rent registration indicating a monthly first rent of $2,500 for the vacant new apartment landlord created. Tenant claimed landlord had never filed an initial rent registration (RR-1) form, and that he'd been overcharged. The trial court ruled for landlord, finding that landlord had properly registered the rent with the DHCR. Tenant appealed, and won. Landlord filed an annual registration for the newly created apartment, but never filed an initial registration with the DHCR nor sent a copy of it to tenant. So, landlord can't collect any rent above the last legal regulated rent. The court set tenant's rent at the sum of the registered rents for the two apartments before they were combined.

R.A.S. Ventures v. McCracken: NYLJ, p. 25, col. 4 (2/3/95) (App. T. 1 Dept.; Ostrau, JP, Miller, McCooe, JJ)