No Proof of Preferential Rent on Base Date

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of a rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant and ordered landlord to refund $1,100, including interest. Landlord appealed, claiming that tenant initially paid a preferential rent that was less than the legal rent, and that landlord later renewed tenant's lease based on the legal rent. The DHCR ruled against landlord. Landlord claimed that tenant's initial rent should have been $1,496, but that landlord charged tenant $1,100 instead because tenant made some repairs to the apartment. But tenant's initial 2004 lease listed only the actual rent charged of $1,100 and didn't list the higher rents listed in the 2004 and 2005 rent registrations. So landlord failed to establish and preserve a higher legal regulated rent than the rent charged.

Vani Realty Corp.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. YE110012RO (7/7/10) [3-pg. doc.]