Am I Paying Too Much Rent for My Brooklyn Apartment?

Many Brooklyn Tenants Are Overcharged

Rent overcharge isn't rare. In neighborhoods like Crown Heights, Flatbush, Bed-Stuy, and Bushwick, older buildings went through decades of ownership changes, renovations, and questionable rent increases. Each transition created opportunities for landlords—intentionally or through sloppy recordkeeping—to charge more than the law allows.

If your apartment is rent-stabilized and you're paying more than the legal regulated rent, you're being overcharged. You may be owed years of excess payments back, plus penalties.

The first step is finding out what you should actually be paying.

Is Your Apartment Rent-Stabilized?

Not every apartment qualifies. But more Brooklyn apartments are stabilized than many tenants realize.

Your apartment is likely rent-stabilized if:

• The building has 6 or more units AND was built before January 1, 1974
• The building received J-51 or 421-a tax benefits (even newer buildings)
• Your rent was below the deregulation threshold when you moved in (thresholds changed over the years)

Signs you might be stabilized without knowing:

• You receive a rent-stabilized lease rider (one or two pages with small print about your rights)
• Your landlord files annual registration statements with DHCR
• Previous tenants in your unit were stabilized

How to confirm: Request your apartment's rent registration from the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR). This is called a rent history.

How to Get Your Rent History

Your rent history is a record of every registered rent for your apartment going back decades. It shows what each tenant paid and what increases the landlord claimed.

To request it:

• Go to the NYS Homes and Community Renewal website (hcr.ny.gov)
• Submit a Request for Rent History (you can do this online)
• Provide your address and apartment number
• Wait 2-4 weeks for the response

The rent history arrives as a printout showing years of registrations. Each line shows the registered rent, the tenant's name (redacted for privacy in recent years), and the reason for any increase.

This document is your roadmap. If the numbers don't add up, you may have an overcharge claim.

How Overcharges Happen

Landlords don't always overcharge on purpose—but many do. Here are the common patterns:

Illegal deregulation

Landlords claimed the rent hit the deregulation threshold when it didn't. Before 2019, apartments could be removed from stabilization once rent exceeded a certain amount. Some landlords inflated rents on paper to cross that line, then charged market rates to new tenants.

Fake or inflated IAIs

Individual Apartment Improvements (IAIs) allow landlords to increase rent after making upgrades—new kitchen, bathroom, appliances. But some landlords claimed improvements they never made, inflated costs, or double-counted the same work. Under the old rules, IAIs could add hundreds per month to the legal rent.

Base rent fraud

When the rent history shows a suspicious jump—say, from $1,200 to $2,400 between tenants—that's a red flag. The landlord may have fabricated a high "base rent" to justify all future increases. If that base rent was fraudulent, every rent after it is tainted.

Preferential rent manipulation

Some tenants pay a "preferential" rent below the legal maximum. That's fine—until the landlord suddenly jumps to the higher legal rent or claims the preferential rent was actually the legal rent all along.

The 2019 HSTPA Changed Everything

The Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA) dramatically strengthened tenant protections and overcharge claims.

Key changes:

• No more high-rent deregulation: Apartments can no longer be removed from stabilization based on rent levels
• IAI caps: Individual Apartment Improvements now have strict limits on how much they can increase rent
• Extended lookback: For overcharge claims involving fraud, DHCR can examine the entire rent history—not just the previous four years
• Treble damages preserved: Willful overcharges still trigger triple damages

Before HSTPA, landlords often got away with old fraud because the lookback was limited. Now, if there's evidence of fraud in the rent history, the whole chain of increases can be examined and unwound.

What You Could Recover

Rent overcharge claims can be worth serious money.

Example: You've been paying $2,200/month for 5 years. The legal rent should have been $1,600/month. That's $600/month in overcharges × 60 months = $36,000 in excess rent paid.

If DHCR finds the overcharge was willful, you could receive treble damages: $36,000 × 3 = $108,000.

Even without treble damages, overcharge awards routinely reach five figures. And your rent going forward gets reset to the correct legal amount.

How to File an Overcharge Complaint

Overcharge claims go to DHCR, not Housing Court.

The process:

• Request and review your rent history
• Identify the discrepancies (unexplained jumps, suspicious IAIs, questionable deregulation)
• File a Rent Overcharge Complaint with DHCR (Form RA-89)
• DHCR investigates, requests documentation from your landlord
• DHCR issues a decision—if overcharge is found, they order refunds and reset the legal rent

Timeframe: DHCR investigations take time. Expect 1-3 years depending on complexity and backlog. During this period, continue paying your current rent.

Statute of limitations: You must file within 6 years of the overcharge. But for ongoing overcharges (you're still paying too much), the clock keeps resetting. And fraud cases allow examination of the full rent history regardless of when violations occurred.

Preferential Rent: A Common Trap

Some leases show two rents: a higher "legal regulated rent" and a lower "preferential rent" you actually pay. This is legal—landlords can offer discounts.

Why it matters:

• Your landlord can raise you to the legal rent upon renewal (unless your lease says otherwise)
• If the "legal rent" was itself an overcharge, the preferential rent doesn't protect you
• Some landlords use inflated legal rents to justify future increases even while charging preferential rates

Check your lease. If you see both numbers, understand what they mean—and verify that the legal rent is actually legal.

Brooklyn Neighborhoods at Risk

Gentrification creates overcharge incentives. When market rents spike, landlords face pressure to push stabilized rents higher—legally or not.

Brooklyn neighborhoods with heavy rent stabilization and active overcharge patterns include:

• Crown Heights
• Flatbush and East Flatbush
• Bed-Stuy
• Bushwick
• Sunset Park
• Prospect Lefferts Gardens

If you live in one of these areas, in a prewar building, paying rent that feels high for a "stabilized" apartment—it's worth investigating.

Find Out What You're Owed

Overcharge claims require patience and paperwork. But the payoff can be substantial: refunds, reset rents, and penalties that hold landlords accountable.

Start with your rent history. If the numbers look wrong, call (347) 669-3256 or visit 592 Pacific Street in Boerum Hill. I've been untangling Brooklyn rent histories since 2012.