Landlord Can Collect Air Conditioner Surcharge

(Decision submitted by James R. Marino of the Manhattan law firm of Kucker & Bruh, LLP, attorneys for the landlord.)

Landlord applied to the DHCR for permission to convert from master metering to direct metering and discontinue inclusion of electricity in tenants' rents. The DRA ruled for landlord. Tenants appealed, claiming that the DRA unfairly reduced the rent decrease they got for the conversion by allowing landlord to charge tenants for the use of air conditioners. The DHCR ruled against tenants. DHCR Operational Bulletin 2003-1 set a schedule of rent decreases for rent-stabilized and rent-controlled tenants, which applied when the DHCR approves a conversion from master metering of electricity. The schedule of rent reductions for direct metering is based on the median monthly cost of electricity to tenants taken from U.S. Census Bureau data. Because tenants were now individually metered, landlord must discontinue any electrical surcharge collected for electrical appliances. But landlord could now collect $5 per month for each tenant-installed air conditioner that extended beyond the window line. This was permitted under DHCR Operational Bulletin 84-4.

Salamon: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. UB210065RT (5/8/08) [3-pg. doc.]