NYS DIVISION OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY RENEWAL

Gas Meters Installed by National Grid Weren't Claimed as MCI Costs

March 26, 2024    

Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on installation of a boiler/heater. The DRA ruled for landlord but disallowed permit fees of $1,688 since such fees didn't qualify for an MCI rent increase. Tenant...

Rent Restoration Date Corrected Based on Date Tenant Returned After Fire

March 26, 2024    

Rent-stabilized tenant complained to the DHCR of a reduction in apartment services after a building fire forced her to vacate her apartment on Nov. 12, 2016. The DRA ruled for tenant and reduced her rent to $1 per...

Reduced Building-Wide Services Were Not De Minimis

March 26, 2024    

Rent-stabilized tenants complained to the DHCR in late 2022 of a reduction in building-wide services based on a number of claimed conditions. The DRA ruled for tenants in 2023, reduced their rents, and directed...

Landlord Obtained Waiver of Reasonable Cost Schedule Limit for Elevator Modernization

March 26, 2024    

Landlord applied to the DHCR for MCI rent hikes based on elevator modernization. The DRA ruled for landlord and increased tenants' rents. Tenants appealed and lost. Tenants claimed that landlord failed to submit...

No MCI Increase for Work Done at Deregulated Buildings in Complex

March 26, 2024    

Landlord applied to the DHCR in 2015 for MCI rent hikes based on installation of a roof/parapet, asbestos removal, and resurfacing of exterior walls. The DRA ruled for landlord. Tenants appealed and won in part....

Landlord Made Insufficient Request for Reasonable Cost Schedule Waiver

March 26, 2024    

Landlord applied to the DHCR for MCI rent hikes based on a concrete courtyard replacement. The DRA ruled against landlord, who appealed and lost. Landlord argued that its Reasonable Cost Schedule waiver application...

Building Less Than 80% Vacant Wasn't Substantially Rehabbed

March 26, 2024    

Landlord asked the DHCR for a ruling that its building was exempt from rent stabilization due to a substantial rehabilitation performed after Jan. 1, 1974. The DRA ruled against landlord, who appealed and lost. The...

Landlord Can't Prove Good Faith Intent to Withdraw Rent-Stabilized Apartment from Market

March 26, 2024    

Landlord applied to the DHCR in 2020 for a ruling granting permission to refuse to renew a rent-stabilized tenant's lease because it sought to remove the apartment from the rental market for its own business use...

Rent-Regulated Units Made Up Fewer Than 35% of All Apartments

March 26, 2024    

Landlord applied in May 2019 for MCI rent hikes based on installation of a new boiler/burner. The DRA ruled against landlord because fewer than 35 percent of the building's tenants were rent stabilized. Effective...

Apartment Was Properly Vacancy-Deregulated Before June 14, 2019

March 26, 2024    

Tenant complained to the DHCR in 2020 of rent overcharge and unlawful apartment deregulation. Landlord claimed that the former rent-controlled tenant moved out in 2002, that landlord then performed $45,500 in...

Overcharge Complaint About Security Deposit Dismissed Because Tenant Had Moved Out

March 26, 2024    

An unregulated tenant complained to the DHCR in December 2019 that he was specifically overcharged because he paid three months' rent at $2,600 per month when he moved into his apartment in July 2019. He claimed...

Landlord Submitted Insufficient Proof of Claimed IAIs

March 26, 2024    

TPU conducted an audit of individual apartment improvements (IAIs) made to a rent-stabilized apartment and found an overcharge. The TPU directed landlord to reset the registered $2,850 rent at $1,715, refund the...