---

Posted by Jane on April 23, 2000 at 09:18:17:

In Reply to: Re: Where a tenant should file a rent overcharge complaint in New York City -- never at DHCR! posted by Kate on April 22, 2000 at 18:27:30:

: I tried to respond to this before, but it seems like it didn't "take" -- my apologies if this question shows up twice.

: We filed an overcharge complaint with the DHCR ~10 months ago (unfortunately, long before I discovered this forum). Though we think we have a very good case, the DHCR disagrees and just dismissed it. We are going to look into filing a PAR and getting a lawyer (not necessarily in that order).

: Here's the question: at this point, is there any way we can terminate our dealings with DHCR and take our case to court? From what I've read here, it seems ill-advised inasmuch as other courts don't want to take over jurisdiction of a DHCR case -- am I reading this correctly? We did not have a lawyer for our first round, but I think the documentation we entered in our complaint was fairly compelling (though I'm sure a good L-T lawyer would have improved it significantly).

: In other words, would it be a mistake now to withhold rent and wait for the landlord to file suit so that we can countersue? Or to get a lawyer and take it to court ourselves?

: Sorry if this has been answered somewhere already -- I saw some relevant info but wasn't quite clear.

: Thanks in advance.

You absolutely must file the PAR and file it on time. Whoever loses the PAR or dislikes one or more rulings in it will then file the Article 78 in court. If you do not file the PAR on time, whatever the Order says becomes final and no court will ever overrule it because you did not 'exhaust your administrative' options. If you withhold rent, you'll just get more headaches. Learn more about all this by searching for these terms in this forum, on the main page of Tenant Net and on the Housing Court page of Tenant Net. Search with other words on the DHCR decisions page. [PAR] [Article 78] [overcharge] [exhaust]

Follow Ups:

---

Note: Posting is disabled in all archives
Post a Followup

Name    : 
E-Mail  : 
Subject : 

Comments:
: : I tried to respond to this before, but it seems like it didn't "take" -- my apologies if this question shows up twice.

: : We filed an overcharge complaint with the DHCR ~10 months ago (unfortunately, long before I discovered this forum). Though we think we have a very good case, the DHCR disagrees and just dismissed it.  We are going to look into filing a PAR and getting a lawyer (not necessarily in that order).

: : Here's the question: at this point, is there any way we can terminate our dealings with DHCR and take our case to court?  From what I've read here, it seems ill-advised inasmuch as other courts don't want to take over jurisdiction of a DHCR case -- am I reading this correctly?  We did not have a lawyer for our first round, but I think the documentation we entered in our complaint was fairly compelling (though I'm sure a good L-T lawyer would have improved it significantly). 

: : In other words, would it be a mistake now to withhold rent and wait for the landlord to file suit so that we can countersue? Or to get a lawyer and take it to court ourselves?

: : Sorry if this has been answered somewhere already -- I saw some relevant info but wasn't quite clear.

: : Thanks in advance.

: You absolutely must file the PAR and file it on time.  Whoever loses the PAR or dislikes one or more rulings in it will then file the Article 78 in court.  If you do not file the PAR on time, whatever the Order says becomes final and no court will ever overrule it because you did not 'exhaust your administrative' options.  If you withhold rent, you'll just get more headaches.  Learn more about all this by searching for these terms in this forum, on the main page of Tenant Net and on the Housing Court page of Tenant Net. Search with other words on the DHCR decisions page. [PAR]  [Article 78] [overcharge] [exhaust]


Optional Link URL:  
Link Title:         
Optional Image URL: 

---