No Hardship Increase While Tax Challenge Pending

Landlord, the owner of shares for nine rent-controlled apartments in a co-op building, applied for hardship rent increases. The DRA terminated the case because there was a tax challenge case pending at the time landlord filed its hardship application. Rent control regulations bar the granting of hardship increases while any case to correct the final determination of the tax commission concerning the building's assessed value for the year before or during which the hardship application is filed is pending. Landlord appealed, claiming that the DRA should have granted the hardship application conditionally rather than make landlord wait for the tax challenge to be determined. The DHCR ruled against landlord. Rent control regulations don't allow for any conditional order. And the fact that landlord later withdrew its tax challenge didn't make the DRA's decision incorrect, since the tax challenge was pending at the time.

150 E. 49th St. Owner's Corp.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. ME420032RO (2/8/99) [3-pg. doc.]