What if a leaseholder overcharges her roommate rent?

[CityWifi]

I recently learned on this forum that the apartment leaseholder cannot charge roommates more than a pro-rated portion of the total rent, in most situations. That is, since I live with one roommate who is the leaseholder, she cannot charge me more than half of her rent, if I understand this correctly.

Assuming this is true, and since I have only recently learned of this, what can I do if I find that my roommate has, in fact, charged me more than the allowable amount while I have been here? Does it matter that I agreed to pay a certain amount, and in fact did pay it, without knowing that it is not allowed?

If I find, for example, that she has charged me as little as $25 per month more than is allowed for three years, am I due a refund of $25 per month, times 36 months (or $900.00)?

(I would assume, of course, that if she chose to charge me less than half of her rent, and I agreed, then that would be her choice, and I would not owe back rent if it was found I had been paying less than half.)

Any advice or further information about this rule or law would be appreciated.

Regards,

CW

[TenantNet]

Those rules are only for rent regulated tenants.

[CityWifi]

That's interesting. I have to figure out whether it's rent-regulated. Here's what I found out with a quick search:

1. The building does not show up on the 2009 list of rent regulated apartments. However:

2. The building has 6 or more units; (7 actually, and one may be an illegal conversion);
3. It was built in 1911;
4. It is not a co-op or condo (even the listing in Department of Buildings says "Condo: NO".
5. The rent is most definitely far below $2,000/month (I would say in the $1,500.00 range or so).

Further reading reveals the following:

From the Rent Guidelines Board's Web site: The lists on our website only include buildings whose owners registered with the NY State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR). If an owner filed after the lists were compiled or not at all, a building may not be on our lists but may still contain rent stabilized apartments. The only way to know for sure if an apartment is rent stabilized is to contact the NY State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR), the state agency which administers the rent laws. You can reach DHCR by calling their InfoLine at 718-739-6400 or contact your local DHCR office.

Therefore, it may, in fact, be rent-regulated, but never registered. I will call DCHR and find out.

If anyone has tips (in addition to the above) on conclusively determining whether a building is or should be rent-regulated, I would be quite happy to hear it.

This forum is offering more and more surprises by the minute!

[TenantNet]

Many buildings/apartments are not registered with DHCR, but that does not mean they should not be regulated. Many LLs refuse to register even though the units should be regulated.

From DHCR ask for a complete rent history of the unit going back to 1984. They might fight you on that offering only four years, but the Grimm decision allows going back if there's been fraud.

You need to do your research before acting with a complaint.

Also see if the unit(s) have been deregulated along the way due to high income/high rent decontrol, or expiration of any tax benefits.

The rents currently being charged could be illegal, so that in itself doesn't mean they were legally deregulated.

[CityWifi]

I'm curious: Do landlords sometimes never give the DHCR a rental history? Is it possibly that they have no info on record? Or is that unlikely or impossible?

Thanks.

And yes, I will do my research very carefully and have all my ducks in a row before taking any sort of action.

[CityWifi]

Well, isn't this just the cat's b.o.!

Just called DHCR, and found out that this building IS registered as a rent-regulated apartment.

Holy cow! It wasn't on the stale list published on the Web, but a worker at DHCR was kind enough to look it up. He couldn't give me the date the building was registered, but he confirmed it was on the list.

He is now mailing me all data he has on the building, including a rent history. He said it is not necessary for me to ask DHCR to open an administrative determination case.

Next step: I will figure out whether my roommate has been overcharging me rent (or, possible, if she herself has been overcharged rent). Then I can move forward.

But to reiterate my original question (which is now valid, as this is RR), if it is found that my roommate has overcharged me, say $25 per month for 36 months, does she owe me the entire $900.00 (36 x $25)?

And likewise, if we determine that my roommate has been overcharged rent this whole time, am I owed more, based on 1/2 of what she should have been paying?

[TenantNet]

"Just called DHCR, and found out that this building IS registered as a rent-regulated apartment."

Just so you know, individual apartments can be rent regulated, or not. Entire Buildings are not regulated. Buildings can have a mix of regulated and unregulated units. Understand the difference.

All buildings were required to be registered once, in 1984. Apartments get registered every year ... when they are being registered. In many cases the LL just doesn't register the units and DHCR doesn't care, or enforce it.

The "list" is often wrong. We have a list on this site, but the information is old, circa 1994. But it is good to know from a historical basis.

You might want to open an AD case, but that depends on what info they send you.

[CityWifi]

Thanks, Tenant.

Come to think of it, we covered my specific apartment unit when I spoke to DHCR. The man asked for both my address and apartment number when he checked his files, and repeatedly insisted that it is RR.

Since he is mailing me the information on the unit, including documentation of the RR status and rent history, I will examine the paperwork when it arrives and follow up here.

Thanks,

CW