New Rent Regulations Deluge Backlogged DHCR Overcharge Cases

July 24, 2024 | admin

(THE CITY) , October 5, 2019

A key task of the state housing agency just got a lot tougher with a new rent law that expands tenants’ rights and the time they have to file complaints alleging their landlords overcharged them.

Yet the Division of Housing and Community Renewal was already drowning in more cases than it could quickly handle, numbers obtained by THE CITY show.

State stats indicate it takes DHCR’s Office of Rent Administration an average of 24 months just to get overcharge cases on rent-regulated apartments assigned to an examiner.

After that, it can take another six to nine months to process the case, leaving some tenants waiting for up to three years waiting for a response — by which point many have given up the fight.

’The Person I Spoke to Laughed’

It’s been roughly 15 months since Rebecca — who did not want her full name used for fear of retribution by her landlord — filed an overcharge complaint with DHCR.

“The person I spoke to laughed when I asked about the status of my case” nine months after filing, she recounted. “They said it would take at least a year to assign the case unless I could prove I had eviction proceedings. It’s ridiculous to have absolutely no progress after nine months.”

When she’d signed the lease on her Crown Heights apartment in early 2017, there was no mention the apartment was rent stabilized.

It was “happenstance” that Rebecca discovered her apartment was covered by rent regulations, she told THE CITY.

She asked to see the rent history on the unit from DHCR and discovered the previous tenant’s rent was $545 in 2016 — a fraction of her $2,227 monthly payment.

The landlord hadn’t provided evidence, which they’re required to do at a renter’s request, detailing apartment renovations that had been made in between tenants to merit the rent spike.

Over the next year Rebecca grappled with the right approach: go to Housing Court, where tenants may also file overcharge cases, or complain to DHCR. She chose the latter.

In July 2018, she filed an overcharge complaint. The case could lead to her getting back money she overpaid, as well as a rollback of her monthly rent to the correct regulated level.

Source: https://thecity.nyc/2019/09/new-rent-regulations-deluge-backlogged-dhcr-overcharge-cases.html?utm_campaign=mailchimp&utm_source=daily&utm_medium=newsletter

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