Tenant Claims Rent History Is Fraudulent

Tenant complained of a rent overcharge. The DHCR ruled for tenant and ordered landlord to refund $2,484. The DHCR found that the apartment was vacant on the base date, that a prior tenant lived in the apartment temporarily after the base date but that this didn't establish the legal rent, that tenant's initial rent thereafter was legal, and that there was some later overcharge between September 2007 and August 2008. Tenant appealed, claiming that the DHCR's decision was arbitrary and unreasonable. The court sent the case back to the DHCR for further consideration. Tenant claimed that landlord committed fraud in connection with the prior tenant's lease and claimed apartment improvements, that landlord covered up the rent-stabilized status of the apartment, that because landlord gave tenant a nonregulated lease and rider, tenant didn't file a timely overcharge complaint, that landlord didn't document the apartment's status to the DHCR, and that the DHCR registration records showed that the earliest date the apartment was vacant was July 22, 2003, within the four-year review period. The DHCR found some merit in tenant's claim and sent the case back to the DRA for further fact-finding.

Goldstein: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. ZD410011RP (5/27/11) [3-pg. doc.]