SCRIE Order Misstated Amount of Rent

Rent-controlled tenant complained of a rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant and found that her MCR was $92.35 per month, effective Jan. 1, 2005. Landlord appealed and won in part. Landlord bought the building in 2009 and believed tenant's rent was $293.81, based on orders issued by the city's Senior Citizens Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE) program issued in 2006, which stated that the legal rent was $315.85 and that tenant's share of the rent was $293.81. The DHCR, not the New York City Department for the Aging, set rent-controlled rents. But landlord relied on the SCRIE order and tenant waited four years after the SCRIE order was issued to file her complaint. Based on the unique and peculiar circumstances involved, the DHCR increased tenant's monthly rent to $99.28, effective Jan. 1, 2010, and $106.73, effective Jan. 1, 2011.

Yeung: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. YL420016RO (5/12/11) [3-pg. doc.]