DHCR Grants Permission, Retroactively, to Change Intercom System

Landlord asked the DHCR for permission, retroactively, to modify building-wide services. Landlord claimed that a visual technology (camera) intercom system had existed at the building but that the prior landlord had replaced it with a bell-buzzer intercom system before 1994, when landlord bought the building. The DRA ruled for landlord, finding that landlord’s modification application wasn’t inconsistent with rent regulations and that no tenant objections were raised regarding the application. Tenant appealed and lost. Tenant argued that, despite landlord’s claim to the contrary, the cameras weren’t removed by prior landlord but were still in the building when she moved in in 1995. They weren’t removed until four to five years later. But the DHCR found that the initial 1984 building services registration filed by prior owner listed an intercom, bell and buzzer system as a base date service. In addition, no tenants complained that landlord had decreased services later when the visual intercom system was replaced with the bell/buzzer system or at any time within four years afterward. This created a presumption that the change was de minimis. And no tenants objected to landlord’s application to modify services.

Anderson: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. CR210042RT (10/7/16) [3-pg. doc.]