Opinion
June 8, 1993
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Franklin Weissberg, J.).
The duplex apartment which is the subject of this proceeding was created by combining two two-room apartments located on the fifth and sixth floors of the premises, a six-story, walk-up apartment building. Upon petitioner's failure to provide a complete rental history for the subject apartment (see, Matter of 61 Jane St. Assocs. v. New York City Conciliation Appeals Bd., 65 N.Y.2d 898), respondent established a comparable rent for the duplex by doubling the rent for a two-room apartment located in the same building. This method of establishing the rent is a reasonable expedient necessitated by the landlord's default in supplying rent records going back to the base rent date and, thus, is not a substantial departure from respondent's own precedents (see, Matter of Field Delivery Serv. [Roberts], 66 N.Y.2d 516, 519-520).
Concerning the imposition of treble damages, the record shows that petitioner willfully overcharged rent by requiring tenants to lease the apartment in a corporate name, even though petitioner knew the apartment would be used primarily for residential purposes, all pursuant to a scheme to evade the Rent Stabilization Code. The record does not support petitioner's claim that the apartment had been legally exempted from the requirements of the Rent Stabilization Code as a commercial unit.
Concur — Carro, J.P., Rosenberger, Ellerin, Wallach and Rubin, JJ.