Tenant Had Insufficient Proof to Warrant Investigation for Rent Fraud

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge in 2017. The DRA ruled against tenant, finding no overcharge. The DRA also found insufficient proof to support a colorable claim of fraudulent conduct by landlord to deregulate the apartment.

Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant argued that fraud was demonstrated because the unit's monthly rent increased from $650 to $1,015 in 2000. Landlord had provided no proof of how the rent increased that much at that time. But the DHCR noted that there needed to be more than a mere allegation of fraud to warrant a lookback beyond the base rent date. An increase in rent alone wasn't sufficient to establish a "colorable claim of fraud." Tenant paid a $1,685 rent-stabilized rent on the base date. The unexplained 2001 rent increase, to $1,150 per month, wasn't close to the then $2,000 vacancy deregulation threshold. In fact, the events tenant claimed were fraudulent occurred 17 years before tenant filed her complaint, and the unit was still rent stabilized. 

Alcantara: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. JW610041RT (4/6/22)[3-pg. document]