Landlord-Tenant—Rent Stabilization Tenant Asserted Overcharge Claim Against Landlord in April 2009, Almost 51/2 Years After She Occupied Apartment Under A Vacancy Lease—Based On Strong Evidence of Fraud and Prior Judicial Precedent, Overcharge Claim Was Timely—Dissent Asserted That the Claim was Barred by the Statute of Limitations
RENT-STABILIZED TENANTS asserted an overcharge claim against their landlord in April 2009, approximately five and one-half years after they initially occupied the apartment pursuant to a vacancy lease. The salient issue before the New York Court of Appeals (court) was “whether CPLR 213-a’s four-year statute of limitations [SOL] completely bars this claim.” Since there was “unrefuted proof of fraud in the record,” the court held that “Section 213-a merely limits tenants’ recovery to those overcharges occurring during the four-year period immediately preceding [tenant's] rent challenge, and that the lawful rent on the base date must be determined by using the default formula devised” by the NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR).
