Landlord Can Replace Gas Stoves with Electric Stoves, Without Rent Reduction

Landlord asked the DHCR for permission to modify required services by substituting electric stoves for gas stoves. The DRA ruled for landlord. Tenants appealed and lost. The DHCR had ruled in other cases that conversion from gas to electric cooking stoves was an adequate substitution of services with no change in the legal regulated rent. It was DHCR policy that, in cases involving a change in stove type where tenants have been paying for cooking fuel separate from their rent, the service that the owner is required to provide is cooking facilities, not fuel. Landlord wasn't required to establish that it was costly or difficult to restore gas in order to qualify for the service substitution. And the DHCR's order directed landlord to provide tenants with new electric stoves that were comparable to the gas stoves and to comply with all local rules and regulations for the installations.

Humphries/Henry: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. IW210009RT (6/27/22)[3-pg. document]