FG 410150 RO
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
------------------------------------X S.J.R. 6453
IN THE MATTER OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
APPEAL OF DOCKET NO.: FG 410150 RO
DRO DOCKET NO.: EI 410404 R
CHESTER PECHOCK,
TENANTS: JULIA MILLER
BORIS MCGIVER
GENE WHEELER
PETITIONER
------------------------------------X
ORDER AND OPINION DENYING PETITION FOR ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
On July 11, 1991, the above-named petitioner-owner filed a Petition
for Administrative Review against an order issued on July 2, 1991,
by the Rent Administrator, Gertz Plaza Jamaica, New York,
concerning the housing accommodations known as 40 East 3rd Street,
New York, Apartment No. 2, wherein the Rent Administrator
determined that the owner had overcharged the tenant.
Subsequent thereto, the petitioner-owner filed a Petition in the
Supreme Court pursuant to Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and
Rules requesting that the "deemed denial" of its Petition for
Administrative Review be annulled. The proceeding was remitted to
the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) and the
owner's petition is herein decided on the merits.
The Administrative Appeal is being determined pursuant to the
provisions of Section 2526.1 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 by the filing of a rent
overcharge complaint by the tenant in September 1990.
In Order Number ZEI 410404 R, the Rent Administrator established
the lawful stabilized rent as $297.54 effective June 1, 1989 and
froze the rent at that amount through June 30, 1991 based on the
owner's failure to register the subject apartment for the years
1986 and 1988. The Administrator directed a refund to the tenant
of overcharges in the amount $37,562.11 including treble damages.
In this petition, the owner contends in substance that he filed the
1986 registration in October 1986 and filed the 1988 registration
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on August 27, 1988 and that the three tenants were all subtenants
of one Tim Roberts. With his petition the owner submits a receipt
for certified mail addressed to the Division of Housing and
Community Renewal (DHCR) Rent Registration Processing Unit dated
October 2, 1986, a return receipt indicating receipt by the DHCR on
October 8, 1986 and a receipt for certified mail addressed to
DHCR's Gertz Plaza office dated August 27, 1988.
In answer to the owner's petition, the tenants Boris McGiver and
Julia Miller state in substance that the tenants are all students
at New York University and that the owner rented out each of the
three rooms in the apartment to a different student. Mr. Roberts
sent in a letter stating that he, like the other tenants, rented
one room in the apartment from the owner. All the tenants paid
rent directly to the owner.
The Commissioner is of the opinion that this petition should be
denied.
An examination of the record in this case discloses that during the
processing of this proceeding the Agency's Rent Registration Unit
was contacted concerning the issue of the 1986 and 1988
registration. The Registration Unit could not find any record of
the owner's registration for the subject apartment for the years in
question. During the proceeding before the Administrator the owner
submitted registration forms for 1986 and 1988 which were on 1985
registration forms. These forms did not constitute proper
registration for those years. In June 1991, the owner submitted
1986 and 1988 registration forms for the subject apartment. In
accordance with Policy Statement 92-3, the Commissioner finds that
the owner has not proved that he filed proper registration forms
with the DHCR for the years in question until June 1991.
The Commissioner also finds that all three tenants were rented
separate rooms in the subject apartment by the owner and paid their
rent directly to the owner and therefore could properly file this
overcharge complaint.
Accordingly, the Rent Administrator's order was warranted.
Because this determination concerns lawful rents only through
June 30, 1991, 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. A copy of this Order is being sent
to the current occupant of the subject apartment.
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.
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
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same hereby is, denied, and, that the order of the Rent
Administrator be, and the same hereby is, affirmed.
ISSUED
JOSEPH A. D'AGOSTA
Acting Deputy Commissioner
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