Rents Reduced by $15 per Month for New Intercom Service

Landlord asked the DHCR for permission to change or decrease essential services to rent-controlled tenants by changing the existing intercom system, which consisted of bells and buzzers with black-and-white monitors, to a telephone-based intercom system. The DRA ruled for landlord on the condition that landlord reduce tenants' rents by $15 per month to compensate tenants for the cost of basic landline telephone service that was necessary for the operation of the new system.

Landlord appealed and lost. Landlord claimed that the permanent rent reduction was excessive, and that all three affected tenants already had landlines. Tenants pointed out that the basic cost of telephone service was more than $15 per month and that they had lost the security of the original video intercom system. The DHCR found that the DRA's decision complied with current agency practice and that $15 reasonably reflected the cost of basic landline service in 2012. Tenants who already had landlines shouldn't be forced to bear the cost of maintaining them merely to support the modified intercom service. And tenants shouldn't be forced to route the intercom service through their cell phones. 

142 East 49th Street: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. AN420050RO (5/2/13) [4-pg. doc.]