Rent Frozen at Base Date Rent Based on Landlord's Failure to Register Apartment

Tenant complained of rent overcharge in 2017. Landlord claimed that the building wasn't rent stabilized because it contained only five apartments. The DRA ruled for tenant and ordered landlord to refund $6,835, including triple damages and interest.

Landlord appealed and lost. The DRA properly calculated the four-year base date rent as $1,360 based on the actual rent charged, and calculated legal rent increases after that date. Landlord never submitted any proof that the building contained fewer than six apartments, although requested to do so by the DRA. The DRA properly set the base date rent as the actual rent charged, in accordance with the 2020 Regina Metropolitan Co. v. DHCR decision of New York's highest court. The DRA also properly froze tenant's rent at the base date rent because landlord had failed to file annual rent registrations for the unit. And triple damages were warranted since landlord didn't show that the overcharge was not willful. 

The Macon Realty, Inc.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. JU210032RO (2/17/22)[3-pg. document]