Default Formula Used to Set Legal Rent

SRO tenant complained of rent overcharge. The DRA ruled for tenant and found a total overcharge of $245. Tenant appealed and won. Tenant claimed that the base date rent was unreliable and that landlord had engaged in a fraudulent scheme to deregulate rooms at the SRO building. The DHCR agreed. Landlord failed to register the room from 2003-2007, retroactively filed false rent registrations in 2008 that inaccurately reflected the legal regulated rent and claimed that the room was exempt from rent stabilization from 2004-2007. Landlord also charged rent in excess of the legal regulated rent and ignored several DHCR directives to retrain from offering 28-day occupancy agreements to prevent residents from becoming permanent tenants. Landlord also was unable to justify the rent increase from $280 per month in 2002 to $600 per month when tenant moved in in April 2008. Retroactive registrations filed by landlord also listed the legal rent as $1,000 per month. The DHCR applied the Rent Stabilization Code’s statutory default formula to calculate the legal rent on the base date. The total refund due to tenant was $26,000, including triple damages and interest. 

Gonzalez: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. DX210021RT (6/29/16) [7-pg. doc.]