Is your landlord paying you too much? This TikTok shows you how to find out.

Carla Badami, 28, posts mainly on TikTok about fashion, makeup or what it’s like to be unemployed in New York City. But last month, she thought she would tell people the steps she took to get $6,000 back from her landlord and lower her rent by hundreds of dollars.

All they had to do was request some information from an obscure state housing agency.

The advice resonated. Maybe too good.

The video accumulated four million views during the past month. It prompted so many people to request their rental information that the agency, New York State Homes and Community Renewal, began telling people it could take 20 days to respond due to the “increased volume resulting from social media activity ‘.

Ms. Badami said in an interview on Wednesday that she was glad her video was useful, but that she also felt “really bad” for the agency.

“They are such helpful people,” she said. “And now I feel like they’re probably so overwhelmed.”

The housing agency enforces rent control laws in New York City. Requests something called a “hire history.” from the state – online, in person or by mail – is essentially the only way to find out how much a landlord is legally expected to charge for a rent-stabilized apartment. It’s a system that even some landlords say is outdated.

Brian Butry, a spokesman for the agency, said that in a normal week the state might receive about 750 inquiries from tenants asking about their rental history. That number has grown to more than 2,000.

It’s not clear exactly why the video took off. Ms. Badami, who had about 4,000 followers before she posted it, describes herself as “just a regular person living in New York City” and loves TikTok.

But the video’s popularity stems in part from the intense feelings New Yorkers have about the high cost of living. The post also highlights the contrast between the ease and reach of social media and government systems, which are often overloaded and outdated.

In her video, Ms. Badami encourages people to start first inquire with the housing company when the rent on their apartment has stabilized. If so, they should request rental history, a log of rent levels that the landlord records annually.

Sometimes the rents that landlords register with the state do not match what they charge tenants. If tenants pay more than stated, they may be overcharged and should ask their landlords for the difference.

In her video, Ms. Badami explains that she had been paying $1,850 a month, but discovered her landlord told the state he was only charging her $1,295. When it came time to cancel her lease, she says in the video, she confronted him about her rental history and asked him, “Would you like to explain?”

In the interview, she said she chose to negotiate informally with her landlord rather than go to court. He ended up giving her about $6,000 back, and he lowered her rent to $1,468.

“My unemployment expired on December 1,” she said. “I got that check back from him and I thought, ‘Oh my God, great, now I know my rent is covered for the next few months.'”

The system is also frustrating for landlords, said Jay Martin, executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program, a trade group for owners of rent-stabilized buildings. He said a mistake, sometimes made accidentally or carelessly, can become a huge liability for a property owner if left uncorrected for years.

“We live in the 21st century,” he said. “There is a technological solution somewhere.”

Ms. Badami said she heard about the agency through her aunt. Then she saw a post on TikTok encouraging people to get their rental information from a company called Openigloo, which allows people to rate buildings and landlords. She included a few seconds of the company’s video in her own post.

Allia Mohamed, the co-founder and CEO of Openigloo, said Ms Badami’s post also led to hundreds of people asking the company for help in figuring out whether they were being overcharged. While she was happy with the fame, she said it also “became a little overwhelming.”

“In a world of open data and transparency, there really should be a more accessible way to access this,” she said.