Tenant's Washing Machine Surcharge Complaint Barred by the Four-Year Rule

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of rent overcharge, claiming that landlord illegally collected washing machine and air conditioner fees. The DRA found no overcharge for the air conditioner. There was no proof, as tenant claimed, that the air conditioner was in use since 1977. Landlord showed that it discovered the air conditioner in 2012 and started billing the legal surcharge permitted by DHCR Operational Bulletin 84-4 immediately. And since tenant had been paying the washing machine fee since the base rent date four years before the complaint was filed, tenant couldn't challenge the fee.

Tenant appealed and lost. While not part of the legal regulated rent, the washing machine surcharge is a rental event that the DHCR has long held is part of the rent history subject to the four-year rule limiting overcharge claims under Rent Stabilization Code (RSC) Section 2526.1(a)(2). Also, the fact that landlord didn't include the appliance surcharges in tenant's leases didn't violate the lease terms and conditions clause of RSC Section 2523.5.

Hernandez: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. EX410054RT (7/26/17) [4-pg. doc.]