Landlord Can Restrict Acceptance of Large Electronics for Tenants

Tenant filed two complaints concerning reduction in building-wide services. First, tenant complained that landlord directed the doorman to stop accepting package deliveries containing electronics notwithstanding the lobby staff's 30-year practice of signing for all package deliveries on behalf of building tenants. Landlord did this based on the presumed value of the deliveries. The DRA ruled against tenant, finding that package delivery acceptance service was being maintained, except for large packages containing electronics and that this was de minimis--that is, minor.

Second, tenant complained that landlord had directed lobby staff to refuse to sign for and accept deliveries received from "friends, messengers, or retailers" because, unlike packages received from major carriers like USPS, UPS, or FedEx, there were no tracking numbers that staff could record to provide a record of deliveries accepted. The DRA ruled against tenant on the second complaint. Tenant appealed both decisions.

The DHCR ruled against tenant, who then filed an Article 78 court appeal. The DHCR agreed to take the cases back for reconsideration, and ruled for tenant in part. As to the first complaint, the DHCR clarified that landlord's prohibition against the doorman's acceptance of package deliveries of oversized cartons containing electronics such as desktop computers, printers, or related electronic goods conspicuously marked as such was de minimis. Rent stabilization laws don't require an owner to accept any and all types of deliveries at all times, and the DHCR in the past has allowed an owner to implement reasonable restrictions as long as the restrictions aren't overly prejudicial to tenants. Also, the complaining tenant had only infrequently had electronics delivered to the building. There also was no proof that any of the other 200 tenants in the building were inconvenienced by landlord's new policy, or that oversized electronic deliveries are normally accepted and signed for others at the building. Acceptance of large electronics for tenant in the past was a courtesy, not an established business practice.

The DHCR ruled for tenant on the second complaint. Landlord's new policy of restricting its acceptance of packages to those dropped off by major couriers that use tracking numbers, to the exclusion of all other delivery sources, was arbitrary and rose to the level of a reduction in services.

Desser: DHCR Adm. Rev. Docket No. FW410007RP (10/31/18) [6-pg. doc.]