Landlord Can't Change Apartment Configuration

Landlord asked the DHCR for permission to modify and reconfigure rent-stabilized tenant's apartment in order to install an elevator shaft in the five-story building. The DHCR ruled against landlord, who filed an Article 78 appeal claiming that the DHCR's decision was arbitrary and unreasonable. The court and appeals court ruled against landlord. Landlord's plan was to install the elevator shaft through the bathroom of tenant's ground-floor studio apartment. Landlord would put a new bathroom where tenant's kitchen was and expand the building into the backyard to make up the lost square footage for the apartment. But tenant was a disabled senior citizen, the new kitchen would be significantly smaller, and the substantial reconfiguration wasn't permitted under rent stabilization. One appeals judge disagreed, stating that the court applied too high a standard in finding that the renovation couldn't significantly impact tenant's living situation to qualify as an adequate substitution of required services.

Lite View LLC v. DHCR: 2012 NY Slip Op 04087, 2012 WL 1869511 (App. Div. 1 Dept.; 5/24/12; Tom, JP, Catterson [dissenting], Renwick, Freedman, Manzanet-Daniels, JJ)