Landlord & Tenant 

In tenant's action seeking damages and declaratory relief due to alleged rent overcharges, both tenant and landlord moved for summary judgment. The court granted partial summary judgment to tenant, holding that landlord's failure to register the apartment precluded landlord from collecting rent increases to which landlord would otherwise have been entitled.

Tenant's predecessor paid monthly rent of $1,022.92 before vacating the apartment in 1999. Although the apartment had then been registered as a rent-stabilized apartment, landlord's predecessor failed to re-register in 1999, and leased the premises to tenant at a monthly rent of $1,450, an amount in excess of the permissible stabilized rent, which was $1,207.05. Landlord's predecessor and landlord renewed the lease annually with modest rent increases, so that in March 2016, landlord and tenant signed a renewal lease at a monthly rent of $2,050. Each renewal lease specified that the apartment was not subject to rent regulation. In April 2017, landlord's counsel advised tenant that landlord had elected not to renew her lease. Tenant then brought this action seeking a declaration that she was entitled to rent stabilization protections, and seeking damages for rent overcharges since 1999, together with treble damages and fees. Landlord then offered to renew tenant's lease, and to refund $4,626.15 in overcharges, an amount calculated by subtracting the rents that would have been permitted under the rent stabilization laws from the rent landlord had actually collected for the four-year period preceding tenant's complaint. Tenant did not accept the settlement. Both sides then moved for summary judgment.