A federal judge has overturned rent reductions that the Union City Rent Stabilization Board gave to two tenants at buildings on Sixth Street and Palisades Avenue.

In an opinion issued earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti ruled that Union City’s rent board lacked the legal basis to reconsider rents for Emilio Puente, a tenant at 309-311 Sixth Street, and Ramon Gracesqui at 1101-1109 Palisades Avenue, court records show.

Union City’s rent leveling ordinance requires that the board must find “new evidence” of an overcharge to justify a rent reduction. The judge found there wasn’t new evidence in either case to justify the reductions, according to the ruling.

In October 2019, Union City reduced Puente’s rent from $996 to $764 a month. Based on the lower rent determination, the board granted Puente a $16,113 overcharge.

Also in 2019, Union City reduced Ramon Gracesqui’s rent at the building on Palisades Avenue from $1,650 to $1,041.

The building owners, Sixth Street LLC and Palisades Avenue LLC, both filed complaints arguing that Union City lacked the required “new evidence” to justify the rent reductions.

In the Sixth Street case, Union City relied on a 2020 legal rent determination to reinstate the $16,113 overcharge. But the board never claimed there was any new evidence to support the reconsideration, the court said.

In the Palisades Avenue case, the court noted that Union City declined to use a 2016 legal rent determination on the unit because the board felt it was erroneous. That decision amounted to a ‘reconsideration’ that was done without the required “new evidence,” the court found.

Both cases were remanded back to the Union City rent board for further action.

Neal Marotta, the attorney for the Union City Rent Stabilization Board, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

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