Terms of Service

Effective date: 2026-04-17. Last updated: 2026-04-17.

1. Who we are

RentGuard (“we,” “our,” or “the Service”) is a claims preparation and information service for New York City tenants who believe they may have been charged rent in excess of the legal regulated rent. This includes tenants of apartments that are currently rent-stabilized as well as tenants whose apartments are treated by their landlord as “free market” but may have been improperly removed from rent-stabilization (for example, through claimed deregulation that was never legally available, inflated Individual Apartment Improvement (IAI) or Major Capital Improvement (MCI) charges, or other registration irregularities). RentGuard is operated from New York and is not a law firm.

2. Not legal advice; not a law firm

The information, analysis, and documents provided by RentGuard are not legal advice and do not create an attorney-client relationship between you and RentGuard. RentGuard's employees are not attorneys (except where expressly identified as such), and nothing in the Service should be construed as legal advice tailored to your specific situation. The Rent Stabilization Code, HSTPA, and applicable case law are complex, and the application of legal rules to particular facts requires legal judgment that only a licensed attorney can provide.

If you need legal advice, you should retain an attorney admitted to practice law in the State of New York. We offer an optional contingency-representation path through a partnered licensed attorney; if you select contingency, you enter into a separate engagement letter with that attorney.

3. What we do

On the “flat” payment path, RentGuard provides: (a) an eligibility check; (b) a rent-history request sent to the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) on your behalf as your administrative agent; (c) a rent-overcharge analysis based on the registration data returned and any documents you upload; (d) preparation of the DHCR Form RA-89 complaint; and (e) administrative guidance through the filing process. You are the filer of record on the DHCR complaint.

On the “contingency” payment path, the same preparatory services are provided, and in addition a licensed New York attorney appears as counsel of record on your behalf pursuant to a separate engagement letter.

4. Analysis is an estimate

Our overcharge analysis is produced by software applying rules drawn from the Rent Stabilization Code (9 NYCRR Part 2520 et seq.) and the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 (HSTPA), as interpreted by the New York Court of Appeals in Regina Metropolitan Co. v. DHCR (2020) and subsequent decisions. The resulting numbers are estimates. The final legal rent and any recoverable overcharge are determined by DHCR or a court of competent jurisdiction.

5. Fees

Our eligibility check and analysis are free. If our analysis indicates a potential overcharge and you choose to proceed, you may select one of two options:

Flat intake fee: a one-time fee of US$500, paid at the time of engagement, covers our preparation services. You keep 100% of any recovery.
Contingency representation: no upfront fee. If you obtain a recovery, the partnered attorney takes 33% of the recovery pursuant to the engagement letter. If there is no recovery, you owe nothing.

Fees may be revised prospectively; any change is disclosed before you engage. No refund is owed after we have begun work on the RA-89. If a DHCR dismissal results from an error on our part (not from the underlying facts of your case), we will refund the intake fee.

6. Your obligations

Provide accurate information. You are responsible for the accuracy of information you provide.
You authorize us to request your rent registration history from DHCR on your behalf.
You understand that recovery of an overcharge is not guaranteed and that DHCR proceedings can take six to twelve months or longer.

7. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, RentGuard's aggregate liability to you in connection with the Service is limited to the fees you have paid in the twelve months preceding the event giving rise to the claim. We are not liable for consequential, indirect, or punitive damages. Nothing in this section limits any liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

8. Intellectual property

All software, content, and design elements of the Service are owned by RentGuard or our licensors. You retain ownership of any content you upload; by uploading, you grant us a non-exclusive license to use that content for the sole purpose of delivering the Service to you.

9. Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time and request deletion of your case data by contacting support. We may suspend or terminate accounts that are inactive for more than twelve months or that violate these Terms.

10. Governing law; disputes

These Terms are governed by the law of the State of New York without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any dispute arising out of or relating to the Service will be resolved in the state or federal courts sitting in New York County, New York.

11. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be communicated by email to the address on file and, if material to an active engagement, will not apply to existing cases without your consent.

12. Contact

Questions about these Terms can be sent to support@rentoverchargenyc.com.