Tenant Can't Challenge Pre-Base Date Rent Increases Absent Showing of Fraud

Rent-stabilized tenant complained to the DHCR of rent overcharge in 2021. Tenant had moved into the unit in 2009 at a monthly rent of $1,600. She claimed that her rent had been illegally increased through the years and was now $2,186. The DRA found that the base rent date was June 14, 2015, under HSTPA; that the base date rent was $2,075; that legal rent increases were collected under renewal leases signed after the base date; and that tenant moved out on Aug. 1, 2021. The DRA found no rent overcharge.

Tenant appealed and lost. She argued that her initial 2009 rent was based on an illegal market-rate lease. But tenant made no colorable claim of rent fraud, and the base date rent therefore wasn't subject to challenge. Tenant's claim was insufficient to review rental events dating back 15 years. The DHCR has long found that mere allegations of pre-base date illegal rent increases were insufficient to warrant pre-base date rent review. And tenant's claim that landlord attempt to settle this matter between the parties wasn't proof of fraud or rent overcharge.

Duke: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. MT410018RT (12/9/24)[2-pg. document]