Rent Credit Offered by Landlord Insufficient to Avoid Triple Damages

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant and ordered landlord to refund $24,000, including triple damages. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord had placed a credit of $6,100 on tenant’s account for the overcharge, but since the credit wasn’t used, the DRA ruled it couldn’t incorporate that into the overcharge calculation. Landlord argued that it bought the building in 2011 from a receiver and gave tenant the rent credit as soon as it discovered there was a pending rent overcharge complaint. Tenant admitted that landlord hadn’t cashed his June 2015 rent check and that tenant had not agreed to any rent credit. DHCR Policy Statement 89-2 states that a landlord can avoid triple damages by paying the overcharge plus interest within 20 days of receipt of the complaint. Here, landlord’s rent credit was offered after the DRA issued its notice of triple damages before deciding the overcharge claim. This was too little and too late. 

Smoosh Bros., LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. DS610043RO (1/15/16) [4-pg. doc.]