Rent of Stabilized Tenant Who Was Given No Lease Was Properly Set

Tenant complained of rent overcharge. He moved into the apartment in 2011 at a monthly rent of $1,550 but never received a lease. In 2014, landlord increased tenant’s rent to $1,670. The DRA ruled for tenant and ordered landlord to refund $93,670, including triple damages. Landlord appealed and lost. Since prior tenant’s last rent was $955 and landlord didn’t give tenant a vacancy lease when he moved in, tenant’s legal rent was $955, not $1,550. Landlord waived the right to collect a vacancy increase as well as any increase for individual apartment improvements. Since the apartment was vacant on the base rent date four years before tenant filed his complaint, the DRA also reasonably set the legal rent at the amount paid by the last tenant before the vacancy and froze the rent at that amount. It didn’t matter that landlord registered tenant’s rent at $1,550.

Bedeau Realty Corp.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. EV210052RO (1/4/17) [6-pg. doc.]