No Fraud by Landlord Where Rent Was Well Below Deregulation Threshold

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge and claimed that landlord fraudulently schemed to deregulate her apartment. The DRA ruled against tenant, finding no overcharge. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant claimed that the DRA should have looked back more than four years to examine the apartment's rent history in light of landlord's fraud. But tenant's base date lease was a renewal lease that charged a rent far below the high-rent vacancy deregulation threshold. So the claim that landlord was fraudulently trying to deregulate the apartment had no merit. Landlord submitted requested rent history documentation to the DRA, including late apartment registrations filed for 2001 through 2015. Under Rent Stabilization Code Section 2528.4(a), the DRA correctly found that there was no overcharge for the period of non-registration since tenant's rent was lawful except for the failure to file timely registrations. 

Ramos: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. FN610035RT (11/2/17) [3-pg. doc.]