One New Yorker won $150,000 when she found out her landlord had been overcharging her. Now a bunch more tenants are using stabilization laws to get money back and pay cheaper rent.

• Amid a housing crisis, many New Yorkers are looking to see if their apartments are rent-stabilized.
• A New York State government portal that collects these requests has been overwhelmed.
• Tenants tell Business Insider how they've managed to win back pay from their landlords.

About a decade ago, Danielle's life changed.

She and her partner at the time lived in a small apartment in Cobble Hill, a hip brownstone neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, paying about $2,650 a month in rent.