Landlord Waived a Prior Vacancy Rent Increase

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant and found that prior landlord had waived a vacancy rent increase in 2008 when a prior tenant moved out. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord argued that there could be no waiver if it wasn't based on a voluntary and intentional relinquishment of a known right. But the DHCR pointed out that in 1975, a New York court ruled in Collingwood Enterprises v. Gaibetz that when a landlord charges a lower rent than could lawfully have been charged, that lower rent becomes the legal rent from which future increases are calculated. The rent that the tenant actually pays controls, not what he might have been charged. 

88-05 171, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. GW110029RO (10/29/19) [2-pg. doc.]