CG 110172-RT
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. CG 110172-RT
(refiling of CE 110164-RT)
: DISTRICT RENT OFFICE
Naomi Blecker DOCKET NOS. 47056
and
Helen Rabinowitz,
OWNER: Pershing Crescent
Co., c/o
PETITIONERS : Schlesinger Mgmt. Corp.
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ORDER AND OPINION GRANTING PETITION FOR ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
On July 19, 1988 the above-named petitioner-tenants perfected
the filing of a Petition for Administrative Review against an
order issued on April 12, 1988 by the Rent Administrator,
10 Columbus Circle, New York, New York concerning the housing
accommodations known as 141-30 Pershing Crescent, Briarwood,
New York, Apartment No. 1A wherein the District Rent
Administrator determined that the owner had overcharged the
tenants.
Docket No. 47056 was originally commenced by the filing in
September, 1984 of a Tenant's Objection to Rent/Services
Registration by the tenants, in which they stated that they had
commenced occupancy on August 1, 1975 at a rent of $240.00 per
month.
In an order issued on April 12, 1988 the Administrator determined
the services objection, and found a rent overcharge of $395.57 as
of April 30, 1988 by taking the tenants' April 1, 1980 rent of
$277.33 as the base date rent.
In this petition, the tenants contends in substance that the
order is inconsistent with an order in Docket No. Q-3118703-R,
Order No. CDR 24421, and is clearly wrong.
The owner did not submit an answer to the tenants' petition,
although given an opportunity to do so.
The Commissioner is of the opinion that this petition should be
granted.
On October 20, 1986 the Administrator issued an order in Docket
No. Q-3118703-R determining a lawful stabilization rent of
$237.74 per month in the lease from August 1, 1978 to July 31,
1980, and finding an overcharge of $8,917.81 as of July 31, 1986.
[The owner's Administrative Appeal (Docket No. BD 110109-RO) was
denied on January 13, 1989, and its Article 78 petition was
denied by Justice LeVine on August 21, 1989.] Rather than use
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the April 1, 1980 rent of $237.74 established 18 months earlier
in Docket No. Q-3118703-R, the order in Docket No. 47056
incorrectly based its calculation of lawful rents on the $277.33
lease rent, as if no prior determination as to the lawful rent
had ever been made. In addition, the order in No. 47056
calculated lawful rents and overcharges from April 1, 1980 to
July 31, 1986, a period for which they had already been
calculated in No. Q-3118703-R. The order in Docket No. 47056
should therefore be modified to calculate the lawful rents on the
basis of the April 1, 1980 rent of $237.74 established in Docket
No. Q-3118703-R. The rents through July 31, 1986 were set forth
in that earlier proceeding, and need not be duplicated here,
although the Commissioner notes that the owner was obligated to
the tenant for $4,578.84 (not including excess security) for
overcharges through July 31, 1986 as a result of that order. The
lawful stabilization rent in the lease from August 1, 1986 to
July 31, 1988 is $325.87 per month ($305.98 found in Docket No.
Q-3118703-R + 6 1/2% for a two-year renewal lease). The
overcharge from August 1, 1986 through April 30, 1988 (the last
month considered in the Administrator's order in Docket No.
47056) is $3,657.15 ($383.92 minus $325.87 equals $58.05 per
month, times 21 months equals $1,219.05, times 3 equals
$3,657.15). Treble damages are imposed, since the overcharge
from August 1, 1986 to July 31, 1988 was a continuation of the
overcharge from August 1, 1975 to July 3, 1986, on which treble
damages were imposed in Docket No. Q-3118703-R. In addition that
order, issued less than three months after the beginning of the
August 1, 1986 lease, directed the owner to roll back the rent to
the lawful stabilized amount. (The filing of Petition for
Administrative Review did not stay such rollback, although it did
stay the refund of past overcharges). The apartment
registrations do not indicate that there was any rent reduction
until a small one occurred as a result of the April 12, 1988
order in Docket No. 47056. This failure to follow a DHCR order
is a further reason for imposing treble damages. No refund of a
specific amount of excess security is directed, since it is
unknown whether the owner previously refunded $54.51 excess
security in Docket No. Q-3118703-R. However, the owner is
directed to refund any security being held in excess of one
month's current lawful rent.
The owner is cautioned to adjust the rent, in leases after those
considered by this order, to amounts no greater than that
determined by this order plus any lawful increases, and to
register any adjusted rents, with this order being given as the
reason for the adjustment. Because of the possibility that the
tenants herein may have vacated by the time that this
determination is issued, a copy of this determination is being
mailed to the tenant-in-occupancy.
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 in the same
manner as a judgment or not in excess of twenty percent per
month thereof may be offset against any rent thereafter due the
owner.
THEREFORE, in accordance with the Rent Stabilization Law and
Code, it is
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ORDERED, that this petition be, and the same hereby is, granted
and that the Administrator's order in Docket No. 47056 be, and
the same hereby is, modified in accordance with this order and
opinion. The lawful stabilization rent is $325.87 per month in
the lease from August 1, 1986 to July 31, 1988. The total
overcharge, not including excess security, or the refund which
the owner owes the tenants as a result of the order in Docket No.
Q-3118703-R, is $3,657.15 from August 1, 1986 to July 31, 1988.
ISSUED:
JOSEPH A. D'AGOSTA
Acting Deputy Commissioner
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