Rent Overcharge Resulted from 1989 Rent Reduction Order

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant and ordered landlord to refund $35,517, including interest. Landlord appealed and lost. Tenant moved into the apartment in 2013. The overcharge finding was based on a rent freeze resulting from a prior DHCR rent reduction order issued in 1989. The rent wasn't restored until 2016. Landlord argued that in a 2016 court case, NAPA Partners, LLC v. DHCR, the Queens Supreme Court had ruled that a Court of Appeals decision in Cintron v. Calogero was no longer controlling and that to enforce an old rent reduction order when there was no proof that the conditions underlying that order still existed was arbitrary and unreasonable. But the NAPA Partners decision cited by landlord was incorrect and was later reversed on appeal. The DRA correctly found an overcharge based on the 1989 rent reduction order.

88-05 171 LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. GQ110050RO (5/22/19) [3-pg. doc.]