Actual Base Date Rent Was Legal Rent

Tenant complained of rent overcharge and lease violations, claiming that her apartment was unlawfully deregulated. The DRA ruled for tenant, finding a rent overcharge of $4,200 including triple damages. The DRA also ruled that tenant's legal rent was $1,400 per month and that landlord should offer tenant a rent-stabilized lease.

Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant claimed that his legal rent should be $1,166.67 based on the DHCR's default formula because the base date rent was unreliable and because landlord fraudulently deregulated the apartment. But Rent Stabilization Code Section 2520.6(e) defined the legal regulated rent as "the rent charged on the base date . . . plus any subsequent lawful increases and adjustments." The rent charged to and paid by tenant on the base date was $1,400, and there was no reason to find that this rent was unreliable or tainted by fraud. The fact that tenant didn't have a vacancy lease or that the apartment wasn't registered didn't change the finding of the rent charged and paid on the base date. The apartment, located in a formerly four-unit building, became rent stabilized because landlord added three additional apartment units to the building.

Gooding: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket Nos. GX210008RT, GX210009RT (11/5/19) [3-pg. doc.]