No MBR Increase Granted Due to Failure to Clear HPD Violations

Landlord applied for a maximum base rent (MBR) increase for a rent-controlled tenant in 2017 and filed a violation certification (VC) to establish the 2018-2019 MBR. Landlord certified that it would clear all rent-impairing violations and at least 80 percent of non-rent-impairing violations on record with HPD within 30 days. In August 2017, the DRA sent landlord a Notice of Incomplete MBR filing since landlord failed to submit the Operation and Maintenance Certification (O&M) and Rent Schedule (RS) within 30 days of June 30, 2017. The DRA sent landlord a Request for Additional Information/Evidence on Sept. 20, 2017, requesting proof of violation clearance within 60 days. On April 12, 2018, the DRA denied landlord's 2018-2019 MBR application.

Landlord appealed and lost. Although landlord submitted letters to the DRA claiming there were only two violations, HPD reports dated May 9, 2017, and March 28, 2018, showed four violations that remained uncorrected. The violations were for no adequate gas supply to gas stove fixtures in the kitchen, peeling paint and plaster throughout the apartment, and illegal wood paneling of the entire apartment. So landlord failed to clear 100 percent of rent-impairing violations and 80 percent of non-rent-impairing violations.

R.A. Cohen & Associates/Novellino: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. GV420039RO (1/8/19) [3-pg. doc.]