Tenant Can't Challenge Older Rent Registration

Facts: Landlord sued to evict hotel- stabilized tenant for nonpayment of rent. Tenant claimed a rent overcharge. He pointed out that the 1991 registered rent for the apartment was $74.50 per week. In 1992 the registered rent jumped to $245 per week. Tenant also noted that landlord didn't file a 1988 annual rent registration with the DHCR. Tenant claimed that the 1988 registration gap triggered an automatic rent rollback to the 1987 registered rent level of $70 per week as well as a rent freeze at that level, until such time that landlord sent and filed the missing rent registration. Court: Tenant loses. The Rent Regulation Reform Act of 1997 amended the Rent Stabilization Law to provide that if a tenant doesn't challenge an annual rent registration statement within four years of its filing, neither that rent nor the service of any prior registration is subject to challenge at any time thereafter. Tenant didn't claim that there was a procedural defect in landlord's annual registrations for the years 1992 through 1997. Since tenant's rent overcharge claim was raised in August 1997, he can't challenge any registration filed before August 1993.

2612 Hotel Corp. v. Silver: NYLJ, p. 24, col. 6 (1/8/98) (Civ. Ct. NY; Shulman, J)