Woods

Appellee Kaye owned a house in Laguna Beach, California, which, on or about September 23, 1946, she rented to one Ann Mailo for $150 per month. This was the first rental of the premises and thus the law 1 and applicable regulations thereunder 2 imposed upon appellee the duty of *888 filing a registration statement within 30 days disclosing the rent charged. Section 5(c) of the Rent Regulation's permits the Area Rent Director 1 to' decrease that rent if it is higher than that which was generally prevailing in the area for comparable housing on March 1, 1942. Section 4(e) of the Rent Regulations provides that the rent decrease, if any, could be made retroactive to the commencement of the rental period if the Administrator found that the landlord was at fault in failing to register within the required time. 3 These regulations are valid and thus have the force of statute.

The Area Rent Director found that ap-pellee had not filed the required statement within 30 days of renting the premises and that she was at fault. On May 19, 1947, the rental was ordered reduced to $75 per month effective from the first rental, and the excess ($600 for eight months of overcharges) refunded to the…