Landlord Can Get MCI Increase for New Intercom System
LVT Number: #33083
Landlord applied to the DHCR for MCI rent hikes in 2011, based on installation of a new boiler, security system, intercom, and fencing. The DRA ruled for landlord in 2013, except that fencing costs were disallowed. Tenants appealed, and the DHCR denied their PAR in 2020. Tenants then filed an Article 78 court appeal, and the case was sent back to the DHCR for further consideration.
The DHCR ruled for tenants in part. The boiler work cost was now disallowed because the work was completed more than two years before landlord filed its MCI application. And a hazardous violation that existed at the time of the MCI application wasn't corrected until Feb. 5, 2019. This altered the effective date of the MCI rent increase. Tenants then filed another Article 78 court appeal of the modified DHCR decision.
The court ruled against tenants, finding that the DHCR's decision was rational. Tenants had failed to prove to the DHCR that landlord had altered apartments and thereby the room counts for MCI increases. Tenants also objected to an MCI increase for the intercom installation, which the DHCR had approved in a prior service modification order. But nothing precluded landlord from subsequently seeking an MCI rent increase after the DHCR approved modification of intercom service at the building.
10 W. 65th St. Tenants Ass'n v. DHCR: Index No. 154859/2023, 2024 NY Slip Op 30005(U)(Sup. Ct. NY; 1/2/24; Ally, J)