Not sure why you have accepted the recon from the landlord, you need to wait for the RO (You don’t know what they will say) and they do not have a right to dispute unless the claimant/tenant has said they can represent them.
A decision to restrict is purely your own decision, apart from the regs/case law that say you can do so you are not going to find anything else. Loads of cases on HBINFO about restriction, and elsewhere, but the main thing is to be able to show (Based on the facts) this rent is unreasonably high and there are other available accommodations (Suitable for this claimant/circumstances) for less.
But therein lies the problem when appealing, the burden is on you and the bar is set quite high but I would say wait to see what the RO says and then take it to a tribunal.
