Matter of Regina Metro. Co., LLC v. New York State Div. of Hous. & Community Renewal, 2018 NY Slip Op 5797 (2018)

Citation: Matter of Regina Metro. Co., LLC v. New York State Div. of Hous. & Community Renewal, 2018 NY Slip Op 5797 (2018)
Parent Document: Matter of Regina Metro. Co., LLC v. New York State Div. of Hous. & Community Renewal, 2018 NY Slip Op 5797 (2018)
Jurisdiction: New York (state)
Effective Date: 2018-08-16
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4527194/matter-of-regina-metro-co-llc-v... ↗

Full Text

2,068 chars

In Taylor, this Court expressly addressed the issue of how to calculate base rents in Roberts overcharge cases. Although DHCR did not have the benefit of our decision at the time it made its determination [FN7], the methodology we endorsed in Taylor (151 AD3d at 105) is exactly the same methodology used by the DHCR when it affirmed the rent administrator's order and denied each side's petition for administrative review (PAR) in May 2015. The majority's rejection of DHCR's methodology in this case is directly contrary to our unanimous decision in [*9]Taylor. Although the majority cites this Court's decision in Stulz v 305 Riverside Corp. (150 AD3d 558 [1st Dept 2017], lv. denied 30 NY3d 909 [2018]), decided just two days before Taylor, Stulz's limited discussion on the important issue raised by this appeal yields little analysis. More recently, in Matter of 160 E. 84th St. Assoc. LLC v New York State Div. of Hous. & Community Renewal, this court supported Taylor's important, take-away principle, that the illegal market rate rent charged by a landlord four years before an overcharge complaint is filed cannot serve as the base date rent, even in the absence of fraud (160 AD3d 474, 474-475 [1st Dept 2018]). More importantly, Taylor's analysis, followed in this dissent, is warranted by cases that preceded Stulz. DHCR's methodology is analytically and logically required by our decision in Gersten. In Gersten, this court determined that retroactive application of Roberts was warranted because Roberts did not establish a new principle of law, but rather merely construed a statute that had been in effect for a number of years (88 AD3d at 198). In weighing the equities involved, this Court found that retroactive application of Roberts would protect tenants from rent increases in excess of those allowed under the Rent Stabilization Law. We cautioned that a contrary ruling, that is, applying Roberts only prospectively, would allow landlords to collect rent in excess of what was allowed by law, based upon a faulty statutory interpretation (id.).

Other Sections in This Document (82)

Full Text