Landlord Didn't Get Proper Consent from Rent-Stabilized Tenants in Occupancy

Tenant complained to the DHCR of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant and directed landlord to refund a total of $2,687, including triple damages. Landlord appealed and lost. In September 2022, landlord had increased tenant's monthly rent from $1,366 to $1,457 and claimed it did so after tenant and her adult daughter consented to an IAI rent increase based on bathroom improvements costing $15,000. But the DRA found that: (a) tenant had not consented to a rent increase because she was in a full-time care facility at that time; (b) tenant's daughter, now the tenant of record, wasn't the tenant at the time she signed the consent form; (c) the consent form provided by landlord didn't state what amount was spent on the IAIs; and (d) the consent form was signed "under questionable circumstances."

Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord argued that there was no dispute that the tenants signed the consent form in February 2019 or that the work was done, and that triple damages weren't warranted. The DHCR found that the supposed consent wasn't sufficient to grant a rent increase under RSC Section 2522.4. Here, the Statement of Consent was signed on Feb. 9, 2019, while the several items of improvement listed above the signature line were all dated May 21, 2019. Tenant claimed that the consent form was blank, or only partially filled-in, when she signed it. The owner didn't dispute this. The signatures weren't valid because the tenant mother wasn't actually living in the apartment at that time, and the daughter hadn't yet become the tenant. So the consent from wasn't signed by anyone who was an actual tenant at the time of signing. Triple damages were proper since landlord knew, or should have known, that proper and effective written tenant consent was required to collect an IAI rent increase for an occupied apartment. 

GBS Properties, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. LW710016RO (1/31/24)[3-pg. document]