Landlord Can Eliminate One Elevator

Landlord asked the DHCR for permission to eliminate elevator service at its rent-stabilized building. The DRA ruled for landlord on condition that tenants receive a 5 percent rent reduction. Tenants and landlord both appealed. Landlord claimed that the two rent-stabilized tenants on the north side of the building didn't have use of the elevator to begin with and therefore shouldn't get rent reductions. Only the two rent-stabilized tenants on the building's south side used the elevator in question. Tenants argued that landlord shouldn't be permitted to eliminate the elevator and that the Loft Board, not the DHCR, had authority to rule on this question.

The DHCR ruled against both landlord and tenants. The Loft Board issued an order in June 2009 setting the initial legal regulated rents for tenants and stating that they were now rent stabilized and no longer subject to the Loft Law. It was also reasonable to grant landlord's application since the elevator in question hadn't worked for a long time. North-side tenants did use the south-side elevator as a freight elevator when it worked and were entitled to the rent reduction.

71 Leonard Street: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket Nos. YE410034RO, YE410033RT (8/29/13) [4-pg. doc.]