Aras v. B-U Realty Corp., 2023 NY Slip Op 04917 (2023)

Citation: Aras v. B-U Realty Corp., 2023 NY Slip Op 04917 (2023)
Parent Document: Aras v. B-U Realty Corp., 2023 NY Slip Op 04917 (2023)
Jurisdiction: New York (state)
Effective Date: 2023-10-03
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/9430365/aras-v-b-u-realty-corp/ ↗

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The issue was again reviewed and reaffirmed by the Court of Appeals in Casey v Whitehouse Estates, Inc. (39 NY3d at 1106). There, the landlord's amended registration statements, which improperly reported the rent paid, were filed after the commencement of that action. This Court found that such was an indicia of defendant's fraud to alter the rental history and leave that apartment outside the rent stabilization framework, and applied the default formula (197 AD3d 401 [1st Dept 2021]). The Court of Appeals reversed, concluding that the foregoing was not evidence of fraud to deregulate and thatdefendants' subsequent re-registration of the apartment in 2011 was of no moment. The amendments were registered after the four-year lookback period, and plaintiffs failed to offer evidence that the inaccurate amended registrations "somehow affected the reliability of the actual rent plaintiffs paid on the base date" (Casey, 39 NY3d at 1107; see also Matter of Trainer v State of N.Y. Div. of Hous. & Community Renewal, 162 AD3d 461, 463 [1st Dept 2018] ["Although petitioner correctly notes that there was a significant increase in rent from 2003 to 2004, that increase and a few discrepancies in the registration statement do not suffice as indicia of fraud to require DHCR to inquire beyond the four-year statute of limitations"]; Gridley v Turnbury Vil., LLC, 196 AD3d 95, 103 [2d Dept 2021] lv denied __NY3d__, 2021 NY Slip Op 75990 [2021]). The Casey Court also clarified that "[f]or purposes of calculating overcharges, where it is possible to determine the rent 'actually charged on the base date' . . . that amount should be used and rent increases legally available to defendants pursuant to the [RSL] during the four-year period should be added" (39 NY3d at 1107).

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