Chimney Liner Work Was Related to MCI

The DRA granted landlord's application for MCI rent hikes based on the installation of a new burner and new chimney liner. Tenants appealed and lost. Tenants claimed that the chimney liner installation was untimely because it wasn't completed within the two-year period before landlord filed its MCI rent increase application. The DHCR noted that the installation of a chimney liner doesn't constitute an MCI unless the installation is related to and performed in connection with a qualifying MCI. Here, the chimney liner completion date of May 31, 2013, was contemporaneous with the burner installation start date of May 31, 2013. The two-year filing limit was calculated from the July 31, 2013, completion date of the new burner.

Fogarty: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. EO430003RT (10/26/17) [2-pg. doc.]