Boiler/Burner Replacement and Fuel Oil Tank Installation Were One Project

The DHCR's DRA granted landlord's MCI rent increase application based on installation of a boiler/burner, elevator upgrade, and hallway flooring. Tenants appealed and lost. They claimed that the installation of two new boiler/burners was a separate improvement from the later installation of the fuel-oil tank and was completed more than two years before the MCI application was filed.

But the DHCR found that the boiler/burner replacement and fuel-oil tank installation was a single project. The completion date of the MCI work was the date on which the boilers/burners and oil tank were fully installed and operational. While the oil tank installation by itself could qualify as an MCI, here the oil tank installation was performed as a necessary part of and in connection with the boiler/burner installation. Landlord's Work Plan, filed with DOB, showed the scope of work to be installation of an entirely different heating system, involving replacement of gas-only fueled boilers with new gas/oil interruptible boilers. There was no pre-existing oil tank at the building, and the installation of a new tank therefore was a necessary component of the overall scope of work to make the new heating system operational. 

Prospect Towers Tenants Association: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. BU210051RT (7/15/20) [2-pg. doc.]