Lyndonville Properties Mgmt., Inc. v. DHCR

In Lyndonville Properties Mgmt., Inc. v. DHCR (291 A.D.2d 311 [1st Dept 2002]), the court held that the DHCR acted rationally to fix the base rent for an apartment in the amount stated in the first reviewable registration statements rather than in the unexplained amount that the landlord actually charged and collected. The court found that the landlord attempted to collect rent above what it had filed with the DHCR, that the landlord did not offer the tenants a lease for more than a decade, and that the landlord filed false registration statements with the DHCR using fictitious names for the tenants. ( Id. at 311-312.) The court determined that to allow the landlord to charge more than the legal regulated rent that it falsely registered with the DHCR would "undermine the registration system." ( Id. at 312.)