First Contractor Went Out of Business

(Decision submitted by Karen Schwartz-Sidrane of the Hewlett, N.Y., law firm of Pennisi Daniels & Norelli, LLP, attorneys for the landlord.) Landlord applied for MCI rent hikes based on building-wide repiping. The DHCR ruled against landlord, finding that the work was done on a piecemeal basis over four years. Landlord appealed, arguing that the DHCR's decision was unreasonable. The court ruled against landlord, and landlord appealed again. The appeals court granted landlord's application. Landlord started the work under a written agreement with its contractor and agreed to make payments according to a schedule. Midway through the work, landlord's contractor went out of business. Landlord replaced the contractor and the work continued under a unified plan with scheduled payments. DOB also approved several amendments to the original work plan. Any interruption in the work was due to circumstances beyond landlord's control, and there was no indication of any intention to abandon the project or conduct the work in a piecemeal fashion.

Riverside Equities LLC v. DHCR: NYLJ, 4/1/02, p. 19, col. 1 (App. Div.1 Dept.; Nardelli, JP, Saxe, Sullivan, Wallach, Friedman, JJ)