Only HSTPA Provisions on MCI Collectability Apply to Tenant PAR of MCI Rent Hike

The DHCR's DRA granted landlord's application for MCI rent hikes based on plumbing repiping and gas repiping. Tenants appealed and lost. Tenants claimed that landlord's application contained false certifications submitted to DOB, and that HSTPA provisions on MCIs should apply to their PAR of the DRA's approval of the MCI increases. The DHCR found nothing to support tenants' false certification claim. And the language of HSTPA didn't expressly state that the act should apply to pending MCI appeals. Other, separate, sections of HSTPA expressly directed the DHCR to apply the new law, but nothing was applied to pending MCI claims. HSTPA only specifically revised provisions on collectability to limit MCI rent increases to 2 percent annually for any MCI increase approved on or after June 16, 2012, and before June 16, 2019.

McKinley Tenant's Association: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. FQ430026RT (10/23/20) [2-pg. doc.]