Landlord Filed Late Registrations Before Order Issued

Facts: Tenant complained of a rent overcharge. The DHCR ruled against tenant, and tenant appealed to the court. The DRA had frozen tenant's rent because landlord didn't register tenant's apartment in 1992 or 1995. This resulted in an overcharge finding. Landlord filed a PAR and pointed out that it had filed late registrations for both years in 1996, before the DRA issued its order. So the DHCR revoked the rent freeze and overcharge finding. Court: Tenant loses. Rent Stabilization Law Section 26-517(e) provides that if rent increases were otherwise legal, except for a rent freeze that would result in the failure to register on time, a late filing will result in a finding of no overcharge before the filing of the late registration.

Germosen v. DHCR: NYLJ, 11/28/01, p. 20, col. 6 (Sup. Ct. NY; McCooe, J)