Adria Realty Investment Associates v. New York State Division of Housing & Community Renewal

270 A.D.2d 46, 704 N.Y.S.2d 51, 2000 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2569

Opinion

—Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Colleen McMahon, J.), entered May 12, 1998, which denied petitioner landlord’s application to annul respondent Division of Housing and Community Renewal’s (DHCR) determination of a willful overcharge and imposition of treble damages, and directed entry of judgment dismissing the petition, unanimously affirmed, without costs.

The record supports DHCR’s finding that petitioner had improperly imposed a rent increase for certain claimed improvements that its documentation did not substantiate (see, Matter of Birdoff& Co. v New York State Div. of Hous. & Community Renewal, 204 AD2d 630). Petitioner was not entitled to demand a hearing in lieu of producing adequate documentation. Nor was petitioner entitled to a hearing on the issue of whether the overcharge was willful. There being adequate support and a rational basis in the record for DHCR’s finding that petitioner failed to establish the nonwillfulness of the overcharge, treble damages were properly imposed (see, Matter of Century Tower Assocs. v State of N. Y. Div. of Hous. & Community Renewal, 83 NY2d 819). Concur — Rosenberger, J. P., Wallach, Andrias and Friedman, JJ.