Landlord Altered Elevator Service Without DHCR Permission

Tenants complained of a reduction in building-wide services after landlord replaced 24-hour manned elevator service with a 17-hour lobby attendant from 7 a.m. to midnight and a closed-circuit TV to monitor the lobby 24 hours a day. The DRA ruled for tenants and reduced their rents. Landlord appealed, claiming that the change benefited tenants, and that landlord had now filed an application for permission to change or decrease services. Landlord also said that the building was a condominium and that landlord couldn't control the board's decisions. The DHCR ruled against landlord. Rent Stabilization Code Sections 2522.4(d) and (e) require landlord to maintain all services included in rent-stabilized rents until and unless landlord seeks and obtains the DHCR's permission to modify services. Landlord didn't file any application before modifying the elevator service, and no permission had been granted at the time the DRA issued its order.

22 Riverside Owners, LLC: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. WJ430037RO (3/20/09) [2-pg. doc.]