DHCR Must Give Tenants Actual Copies of MCI Application

(Decision submitted by Robert Katz, of counsel to the Manhattan law firm of Collins, Dobkin & Miller, LLP, attorneys for the tenants.) Landlord applied for MCI rent increases based on the installation of a new roof. The DHCR ruled for landlord, and tenants appealed. They claimed that the DHCR's notice to tenants of landlord's MCI application was improper. The DHCR had sent tenants a notice stating that landlord had filed the MCI application, and summarizing the facts supporting landlord's application. The notice gave tenants 30 days to comment. The court ruled for tenants. The rent stabilization code requires DHCR to send all tenants subject to the MCI rent increase a copy of landlord's actual application. Sending the tenants a summary of the application was arbitrary and unreasonable in light of this requirement. The case was sent back to the DHCR for further processing.

Horowitz v. DHCR: NYLJ, p. 34, col. 1 (11/3/99) (Sup. Ct. Queens; Dye, J)