Was Doorman Service Provided on Base Date?

(Decision submitted by Peter A. Schwartz of the Manhattan law firm of Fromme Fromme & Schwartz, attorneys for the landlord.) Tenants complained to the DHCR that landlord had eliminated doorman service. Tenants also claimed that landlord had further jeopardized building security by not keeping building doors locked. A DHCR inspector determined that there had been doorman services at some time in the past, and that the door from the boiler room to the street was kept unlocked. The DRA ruled that landlord had to restore doorman services, and that landlord must keep the boiler room door locked at all times. Landlord appealed, claiming that doorman service wasn't provided when he bought the building. The DHCR found that the base date for determining whether rent-stabilized tenants are entitled to building-wide services is May 31, 1968---not the date landlord bought the building. The DHCR sent the case back to the DRA because there wasn't enough information on record to determine whether doorman services were provided on the base date. And the DHCR directed landlord to keep the door from the boiler room to the street locked at all times.

Shefa Realty Corp: DHCR Admin. Rev. Dckt. CI 220265-RO (3/31/94) [4-page document]