Overcharge Finding Upheld on Appeal

March 1, 2010

LVT Number: #22495

Tenant complained of a rent overcharge. The DHCR ruled for tenant and found that the apartment was rent stabilized, froze the rent at $1,325, imposed triple damages, and gave tenant a $495 refund after deducting $7,950 in back rent owed from the total overcharge. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that apartment improvements were made more than four years before tenant filed his complaint. But even considering proof of the renovations, landlord failed to prove that there was no willful overcharge. Landlord’s proof of the claimed work was contradictory.

Tenant complained of a rent overcharge. The DHCR ruled for tenant and found that the apartment was rent stabilized, froze the rent at $1,325, imposed triple damages, and gave tenant a $495 refund after deducting $7,950 in back rent owed from the total overcharge. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that apartment improvements were made more than four years before tenant filed his complaint. But even considering proof of the renovations, landlord failed to prove that there was no willful overcharge. Landlord’s proof of the claimed work was contradictory. There also was no proof of preferential rent or that the apartment was ever deregulated for high-rent vacancy.

450-452 East 81st Street, LLC v. DHCR: NYLJ, 2/18/10, p. 33, col. 4 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Gonzalez, PJ, Saxe, Moskowitz, Abdus-Salaam, Roman, JJ)

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