Almost eight years ago, Norwood resident Iris Vega-Ortiz was reportedly awarded $33,000 after the state housing agency found her landlord had overcharged her by $400 a month on rent for several years.

A new bill proposed by Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz might make Vega-Ortiz’s case more of a common occurrence.

Dinowitz, a Democrat who represents Norwood, Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Wakefield and Woodlawn, has introduced a bill to change the state law when it comes to tenants who wish to file a rent overcharge complaint. Currently, tenants can request their rent history from the state Department of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) and file a complaint if they see their rent was increased beyond the legal limit within the last four years.

Dinowitz’s bill would remove that statute of limitations, making any rent overcharge, no matter how long ago the illegal rent increase happened, fair game.

“We’ve had too many cases where it’s abundantly clear that a landlord provided false information to DHCR,” said Dinowitz. “It bothered me that a tenant had no right to seek justice.”

Dinowitz added he was confident that the progressive coalition in the State Assembly would pass the bill–the latest in a series of attempts going back at least to 2016 to extend or remove the statute of limitations.

The assemblyman also sought to pre-empt criticism from landlords angry that the bill would retroactively make them legally responsible for a unit’s entire rent history. He pointed out that a landlord in that situation would still be profiting from an illegal rent hike, even unknowingly.

“It’s only just, it’s not a punitive thing,” he said. “Why should anyone be allowed to profit from fraud?”

The bill–which has been co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Karines Reyes, and is making its way through the Housing Committee, with no equivalent in the State Senate as yet–comes as tenant advocates and landlord advocates brace for a legislative battle ahead of June, when many of New York State’s rent laws are set to expire.

Andrew Laiosa, a tenant advocate for the Bedford Park-based group West Bronx Housing, said Dinowitz’s bill was necessary but not quite enough, since the burden of proof remains on tenants.

When it comes to the current legislation, “any tenant would say four years is a joke,” Laiosa said. “I cannot tell you the heartbreak that people are going through in our neighborhoods and it’s totally related to this four-year statute of limitations.”

But even if there were no statute of limitations, filing a rent overcharge complaint against your landlord isn’t that simple, Laiosa cautioned.

“If they’re being given a preferential rent, the last thing you want to do is challenge the landlord because upon lease renewal what’s hanging over you is a noose,” he said. “They may be undocumented, English may not be their first language–there are a million reasons why a new tenant would not challenge the rent. They’re afraid.”