DHCR Disallowed Maintenance Items from Improvement Costs

March 31, 2010

LVT Number: #22559

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of a rent overcharge. The DHCR ruled for tenant. Landlord appealed, claiming the DHCR’s decision was unreasonable. The court and appeals court ruled against landlord. Landlord claimed that it made individual apartment improvements before tenant moved in and was therefore entitled to a 1/40th rent increase. But the DHCR properly disallowed any increase for painting, plastering, and floor maintenance, since these were repair items.

Rent-stabilized tenant complained of a rent overcharge. The DHCR ruled for tenant. Landlord appealed, claiming the DHCR’s decision was unreasonable. The court and appeals court ruled against landlord. Landlord claimed that it made individual apartment improvements before tenant moved in and was therefore entitled to a 1/40th rent increase. But the DHCR properly disallowed any increase for painting, plastering, and floor maintenance, since these were repair items. The DHCR also permissibly discredited landlord’s documentation of some other claimed improvements. The DHCR properly imposed triple damages since landlord failed to prove that the overcharge wasn’t willful.

Graham Court Owners Corp. v. DHCR: NYLJ, 3/18/10, p. 34, col. 6 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; Friedman, JP, Catterson, McGuire, Acosta, Renwick, JJ)

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