Landlord Didn't Preserve Any Preferential Rent in Base Date Lease

Rent-stabilized tenant complained to the DHCR of rent overcharge in 2020. The DRA ruled for tenant and directed landlord to refund $4,469, including triple damages. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that the legal regulated rent charged to the prior tenant on the base rent date was higher than the base rent calculated by the DRA. But landlord listed only a legal regulated rent of $997 on the base date. Landlord claimed that was a preferential rent and that the legal regulated rent was $1,458. Since the only rent listed on the prior tenant's base date lease was $997 per month, that was the legal regulated rent on the base date upon which all rent increases must be calculated. No preferential rent was preserved in the base date rent. 

625 Jackson Realty Co., LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. IX610011R (3/6/25)[2-pg. document]