MCI Application Filed Within Two Years of Final Payment Date Was Untimely

Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on installation of a chimney relining and boiler. The DRA ruled against landlord, finding that the application was untimely. Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord argued that its MCI application was filed within two years of the March 20, 2015, date of final payments for the boiler installation. But Rent Stabilization Code Section 2522.4(a)(8) precludes an MCI rent hike when the application is filed more than two years after the physical completion of the installation, not the date of final payment for the work or the date of issuance of any required governmental certificate. Other payments for the work were made between June 2013 and October 2014. And DOB's sign-offs were dated Jan. 5, 2015, and Feb. 18, 2015. This indicated that the boiler installation was physically completed before the March 20, 2015, date of the final payments and more than two years before the MCI application was filed on March 22, 2017. In addition, since the chimney relining work qualified only as necessary work done in connection with the boiler installation, it didn't qualify since the MCI application for the boiler was untimely.

Ordway Holdings LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. GQ410008RO (1/7/21) [2-pg. doc.]