No Prospective Rent Overcharge Found After Late Rent Registrations Filed

Tenant sued landlord in May 2016, seeking a judgment that he was rent stabilized and that he'd been overcharged. Tenant claimed that landlord owed him $139,000 plus triple damages, interest, and attorney's fees. Both sides submitted documents and asked the court to rule without a trial. The court ruled for tenant in part, finding that landlord owed tenant $6,040 plus interest accruing since June 1, 2013. Landlord admitted that the apartment was erroneously registered as exempt from regulation and offered tenant a rent-stabilized lease. The court found that, applying the four-year base date, tenant couldn't base an overcharge claim on rent history before commencement of his tenancy in June 2012. Landlord also had sent tenant a check representing what it believed was the overcharge amount, but tenant rejected it. Tenant's own documents included registration statements showing a legal regulated rent immediately preceding tenant's rent of $1,786 in 2011. But tenant paid $1,600 in preferential rent. So, there was no proof supporting a ruling that prospective rent should be set at a rate lower than what was properly late-registered for 2013 through 2016, although tenant's rent was frozen for periods prior to late registration filings.

Goldstein v. P Assoc.: Index No. 154584/16, NYLJ No. 1202793937991 (Sup. Ct. NY; 7/11/17; Edmead, J)