Court Mistakenly Awarded Tenant Quadruple Damages for Rent Overcharge

Tenant sued landlord, claiming rent overcharge and improper apartment deregulation. The court ruled for tenant, setting the legal regulated rent at $533.82 per month, and awarding rent overcharges plus triple damages for a total refund due of $209,773. The court otherwise found that landlord's proof was insufficient to establish what work was actually done and the cost of the claimed individual apartment improvements (IAIs).

Landlord appealed and won, in part.  The lower court properly determined that the apartment was rent stabilized and that landlord's failure to register the apartment at any point after 2014 required the rent to be frozen at the $533.82 legal regulated rent listed in the last registration statement prior to the failure to register. Otherwise, the lower court mistakenly granted quadruple damages, and the total overcharge award with triple damages was reduced to $157,329.96.

Haygood v. Prince Holdings 2012, LLC: Index No. 155091/16, App. No. 4367-4368, Case No. 2022-04358, 2022-04529, 2025 NY Slip Op 02994 (App. Div. 1; 5/15/25; Kennedy, JP, Gonzalez, Shulman, O'Neill Levy, JJ)