20-Year-Old Service Reduction Finding Remains in Effect

In 1993, the DRA determined that there was a reduction in services in tenant’s apartment based on landlord’s failure to control vermin. In 2013, landlord filed an application to restore rent, claiming that the vermin condition had been eliminated. Tenant objected, claiming that there was still a vermin problem. The DRA ruled against landlord, who appealed and lost. Landlord argued that any current vermin condition was a new condition and could not possibly be the same condition that was the subject of a complaint 20 years earlier. But DHCR inspection showed there was still a vermin problem in the apartment, and landlord submitted no proof of sufficient extermination services or that the condition had been cured at any time. There also was no proof, as landlord claimed, that tenant caused the current vermin problem. The rent reduction order remained in effect.

930-940 LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. CN220014RO (3/19/15) [4-pg. doc.]