No Overcharge Where Deregulated Rent Follows Base Date Vacancy

Tenants complained of a rent overcharge. The DRA ruled against tenants, finding that their apartment was exempt from rent stabilization due to high-rent decontrol. Tenants appealed, claiming that since no registration was filed indicating that the rent reached $2,000 or more when the apartment became vacant, landlord couldn't prove that the apartment was deregulated when they moved in. The DHCR ruled against tenants. Rent Stabilization Code Section 2520.11(r) limits the review of rent history to the four-year period before tenants' complaint was filed. While the four-year rule doesn't apply when the issue is whether a housing accommodation is subject to rent stabilization, there is an exception for high-rent decontrol. Here, tenants filed their overcharge complaint on Sept. 26, 2007, so the base date was Sept. 26, 2003. On that date, the apartment was vacant. So the first rent charged after that became the base rent. Tenants paid an initial rent after the base date vacancy of $2,625. Since this rent was more than $2,000, the apartment was exempt from rent stabilization.

Pace & Hersh: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. WF410015RT (8/21/08) [2-pg. doc.]