Landlord Can Reduce Number of Public Bathrooms in SRO Building

In 2008, landlord asked the DHCR for permission to change or decrease dwelling space and essential services in an SRO building by eliminating the women's public bathrooms on floors 4 through 10 and 12, and to divide the existing men's bathrooms into two separate unisex bathrooms on each floor. All the new bathrooms would comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and would contain one water closet, one sink, and one shower. Landlord later amended its application, seeking to install one unisex bathroom per floor since the number of SRO tenants at the building had been reduced to below six per floor. The DRA ruled for landlord.

Tenants appealed and lost. Tenants claimed that the renovated bathrooms weren't ADA-compliant. But the DHCR didn't have the authority to rule on whether the bathrooms complied with ADA regulations, so tenants would have to raise those claims before the regulating agencies that oversee and enforce the ADA. Tenants also objected to the fact that landlord installed one, not two, unisex bathrooms per floor. But NYC Housing Maintenance Code Section 27-2067 required only one bathroom per six rooming house occupants per floor. So, the DRA's order was modified that landlord could renovate to include one bathroom per floor provided there were no more than six SRO tenants per floor. 

Various Tenants of 1186-1198 Broadway: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. AN430023RT (5/25/17) [6-pg. doc.]