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STATE OF NEW YORK
DIVISION OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY RENEWAL
OFFICE OF RENT ADMINISTRATION
GERTZ PLAZA
92-31 UNION HALL STREET
JAMAICA, NEW YORK 11433
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IN THE MATTER OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE : ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
APPEAL OF DOCKET NO. BG 130081 RO
: DRO DOCKET NO. 51538-G
CORRY ASSOCIATES TENANT: THEMIS GEORGOPOULOS
PETITIONER :
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ORDER AND OPINION DENYING PETITION FOR ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
On July 2, 1987, the above-named petitioner-owner filed a
Petition for Administrative Review against an order issued on June
4, 1987, by the Rent Administrator, 10 Columbus Circle, New York,
New York, concerning the housing accommodations known as 149-45
Northern Blvd., Queens, New York, Apartment No. 3P wherein the
Rent Administrator determined that the owner had overcharged the
tenant.
The Administrative Appeal is being determined pursuant to the
provisions of Section 2522.4 of the Rent Stabilization Code.
The issue herein is whether the Rent Administrator's order
was warranted.
The Commissioner has reviewed all of the evidence in the
record and has carefully considered that portion of the record
relevant to the issue raised by the administrative appeal.
This proceeding was originally commenced in February 1981, by
the filing of a rent overcharge complaint by the tenant in which
the tenant stated that he first moved to the subject apartment on
April 1, 1980 at a rental of $375.00 per month and stated that he
had the original appliances and that nothing new had been added.
On April 23, 1981, the owner was served with a copy of the
tenant's complaint and directed to submit a complete rental
history and told that if any rentals involved charges for new
equipment, copies of paid bills for such equipment must be
furnished.
In answer to the complaint, the owner submitted a rental
history for the subject apartment including a copy of a letter
dated December 1, 1979 to a prior tenant in which the owner stated
that at the prior tenant's request it was spending a total of
$1808.00 to make the following improvements in the subject
apartment - new refrigerator, new kitchen sink and kitchen
cabinets, new bathroom toilet, sink and bathtub and that the
tenant's rent would be increased by $45.20 due to such
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improvements. In acknowledgment that the work had been completed,
the prior tenant signed the December 1, 1979 letter on February
15, 1980. No copies of any bills for the work were submitted.
In Order Number CDR 30,505, the Rent Administrator determined
that the tenant had been overcharged in the amount of $4549.20 and
the lawful stabilization rent was established as $417.04
effective April 1, 1985 to March 31, 1987. In such determination,
no allowance was made for any improvements in the subject
apartment.
In this petition, the owner contends in substance that the
Rent Administrator's order failed to take into account the
$1808.00 in improvements made in the subject apartment.
The Commissioner is of the opinion that this petition should
be denied.
An examination of the records in this case discloses that the
owner did not supply the required documentary proof of the cost of
any new equipment installed in the subject apartment although
directed to do so. The letter allegedly sent to and signed by the
prior tenant is insufficient evidence of the cost of the work
because it is only a statement and not the bills or checks. A
tenant may not waive his or her rights under the rent
stabilization law, and had the prior tenant challenged the rent
increase for the alleged improvemnts, the letter would have been
insufficient proof of the cost. In addition the tenant herein,
who moved to the subject apartment within four months of when the
alleged improvements were made, denies that there were any recent
new appliances installed in the subject apartment. Accordingly
the Rent Administrator's order disallowing a rent increase for the
improvements and finding a rent overcharge was warranted.
Because this determination concerns lawful rents only through
March 31, 1987, the owner is cautioned to adjust subsequent rents
to an amount no greater than that determined by the Rent
Administrator's order plus any lawful increases and to register
any adjusted rents with this order and opinion being given as the
explanation for the adjustment.
This order may upon the expiration of the period in which the
owner may institute a proceeding pursuant to Article 78 of the
Civil Practice Law and Rules, be filed and enforced as a judgment
or not in excess of twenty percent per month of the overcharge may
be offset against any rent thereafter due the owner.
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THEREFORE, in accordance with the provisions of the Rent
Stabilization Law and Code, it is
ORDERED, that this petition for administrative review be, and
the same hereby is, denied, and, that the order of the Rent
Administrator be, and the same hereby is, affirmed. The amount of
the rent overcharge through March 31, 1987 is $4549.20.
ISSUED
ELLIOT SANDER
Deputy Commissioner
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