Overcharge Claim Considered Based on Missing Exit Registration

Tenant complained of a rent overcharge in 2008 and asked the DRA to look back more than four years. Tenant stated that his apartment hadn’t been registered since 1986 and that, in a prior proceeding, landlord had submitted to the DHCR a lease signed on Feb. 1, 1998, to prove that the rent was over $2,000. But that lease was on a Blumberg form that wasn’t published until November 1998. After the first ruling for tenant, the DRA then reversed and found that tenant’s apartment was exempt from rent stabilization due to high-rent vacancy deregulation that occurred before the base rent date.

Tenant appealed and won. Tenant argued that since landlord filed false paperwork and statements, this was fraud, so the four-year rule didn’t apply. The DHCR found that it could look at prior registrations to determine whether the apartment was rent stabilized. Although landlord claimed that it had filed an exit registration in 2000, the DHCR had no record of this. So there was insufficient proof that the apartment was exempt from regulation. Without an exit registration, tenant’s complaint must be decided by taking the rent on the 2004 base date and adding subsequent lawful increases. Since there is no proof of the rent on the base date, the DHCR’s default method must be used to determine the legal rent. The total overcharge was $9,800, including triple damages.

Batista: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. XL410035RT (3/17/10) [3-pg. doc.]