No Fraud Where Prior Rent Set by Court Settlement

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled against tenant, finding no overcharge. Tenant appealed and lost. The base rent date for tenant's complaint was Jan. 29, 2006, four years before the complaint was filed. But tenant claimed that the apartment rent was illegally increased on July 1, 2004, before the base rent date. At that time, tenant and landlord had signed a settlement agreement in a housing court proceeding. As part of the settlement, landlord agreed to give a vacancy lease to tenant and a new co-tenant. Tenant accepted and signed the vacancy lease. Tenant now claimed that landlord's actions were fraudulent. But the settlement was a court-approved agreement between landlord and tenant to resolve a legal claim. It wasn't proof that either side committed fraud. There also was no proof that tenant's initial 1995 rent was fraudulent, and a 2001 rent overcharge complaint filed by tenant had been dismissed.

Teguegne: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. BR410038RT (10/23/14) [4-pg. doc.]