Labor Costs

Tenant filed a fair market rent appeal. The DRA ruled for tenant and set the first stabilized rent using the special fair market rent guideline. Landlord appealed, claiming that the DRA didn't include renovation costs in its calculation of the first stabilized rent. These costs included $5,500 for labor by landlord's own in-house construction crew. The DHCR ruled against landlord. Only 11 of the 30 payroll checks submitted by landlord mention tenant's apartment, meaning that work in other vacant apartments couldn't be ruled out. There were 100 apartments in the adjoining buildings owned by landlord. Also, it appeared that the work wasn't done during extra hours on evenings and weekends but during regular working hours. The labor costs submitted also added up to 1,000 hours of work, which was inconsistent with the items claimed. In addition, much of the claimed work was maintenance and repair, and the labor costs for that work weren't reimbursable.

W. 135th Corp.: DHCR Adm. Rev. Dckt. No. FC510285RO (11/7/97) [5-page document]