DHCR Can't Authorize Elevator Use

Landlord asked the DHCR for permission to modify building-wide required services by replacing a manually operated freight elevator with an automatic passenger elevator. The DRA ruled for landlord. Tenants appealed and won. Previously, tenants were permitted to use the elevator as a freight elevator by appointment. The freight elevator opened only into Unit 4E. Unit 4W, the only other unit on that floor, had a rear door that accessed 4E. To use the freight elevator, tenants of 4W needed permission from 4E tenants. Otherwise tenants of 4W and other units had to leave and enter the building through a lobby and staircase. Although the DRA approved 24/7 access by all tenants to the new elevator and landlord gave tenants of 4W a fourth-floor elevator key, tenants still had to go through Unit 4E. Conversion of the elevator service couldn’t be approved until all tenants had direct access to the elevator, and Unit 4W’s access to the elevator by entering 4E was inconsistent with the Rent Stabilization Code. 

23-25 Greene Street: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. BQ410057RT (4/8/15) [2-pg. doc.]