Tenant No Longer Paid for Electricity After DHCR Issued Electrical Exclusion Order

Rent-stabilized tenant filed a "specific" rent overcharge complaint with the DHCR. Tenant claimed that landlord didn't comply with a prior DHCR order issued in 2008, which found there was a $920 overcharge based on a reduction in tenant's rent due to tenant paying her own electricity. The DRA dismissed tenant's new overcharge complaint after finding that the tenant's concerns had been addressed in two other DHCR orders.

Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant argued that her overcharge issue was "ongoing." In response, landlord claimed that tenant didn't pay utility charges for her apartment, and that the issue had been resolved in 2015 housing court case between the parties where they stipulated that tenant's legal regulated rent was $1,371 per month. The DHCR pointed out that the legal regulated rent of the apartment was reduced by $47 per month as the result of an electrical exclusion order, that tenant received a utility credit from NYCHA as recorded in a rent voucher, that landlord had complied with court orders in terms of the rent charged, and that NYCHA had verified that rent. In addition, as of June 12, 2022, the contract rent between landlord and NYCHA was $1,437 per month, tenant's portion of the rent was $198 per month, and the $198 didn't include a utility charge. 

Godwin: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. KS210019RT (926/22)[2-pg. document]