No Fraud Found in 1984 Rent Registration or 1994 Improvements

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant but ordered landlord to refund just $122. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant claimed fraud and that the DHCR should have looked back more than four years because there were inconsistent 1984 rent registrations and an unsupported 1994 individual apartment improvement (IAI) rent increase. The DHCR found that any discrepancies in the 1984 rent registration didn't show any fraudulent scheme to deregulate the apartment since there were no vacancy deregulation provisions at that time and the 1984 registration was the first required rent registration of rent-stabilized apartments. As to the 1994 IAIs, consideration was barred by the four-year rule found in Rent Stabilization Code Section 2526.1(a)(2). A claimed overcharge prior to the base date wasn't by itself proof of any fraudulent scheme to deregulate the apartment. And tenant had been treated as rent stabilized at all times since she moved into the apartment in 1994.

Meyerson: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. EX410010RT (9/19/17) [3-pg. doc.]