No Proof of Preferential Rent

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of a rent overcharge after his lease was renewed in June 2009, and landlord raised his rent from $598 to $1,700 per month. Landlord claimed that tenant previously had a preferential rent that landlord wasn't required to renew it. The DRA ruled for tenant and ordered landlord to refund a rent overcharge. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord was unable to provide a copy of the base date lease in effect four years before tenant's complaint. Landlord argued that prior landlord didn't provide this lease when it bought the building. But without a base date lease to prove that there was a preferential rent agreement, the rent charged on that date was considered the base rent.

Vaidacuta-Wood, Inc.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. YG110075RO (9/15/10) [3-pg. doc.]