DHCR Ignores Combined Apartment for Room Count Purposes

Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on pointing and waterproofing. The DRA ruled for landlord. Landlord appealed, claiming only that the room count should be changed from 26 to 23 rooms. The DHCR ruled against landlord. Landlord had combined two apartments, each containing four rooms, into one apartment containing five rooms. But the creation of larger rooms in the altered area skewed the room count unfairly. So the DRA properly based the room count on the prior configuration of the building as containing six apartments with a total of 26 rooms.

74-76 3rd Place: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. XB230035RO (1/7/11) [2-pg. doc.]