Landlord Claims Laundry Room Wasn't Required Service

(Decision submitted by Arun Perinbasekar of the Hewlett law firm of Sidrane & Schwartz-Sidrane, LLP, attorneys for the landlord.)

Tenants complained of a reduction in building-wide services. They claimed that landlord eliminated a laundry room in the building. Landlord claimed that it didn’t own, operate, or maintain the laundry room, so it wasn’t a required service. The DHCR ruled for tenants, reduced their rents, and ordered landlord to restore laundry room service.

Landlord appealed, arguing again that the laundry service was provided by an independent contractor, and therefore wasn’t a required ancillary service. When landlord bought the building in 2007, the building had an unfinished basement and no laundry facilities. Landlord signed a lease in 2008 with a company permitting the company to install and operate coin-metered laundry equipment (the “laundry lease”). The company agreed to build, install, and maintain the laundry room at its own expense in exchange for the exclusive right to collect the funds paid by tenants to use the machines. Under the laundry lease, landlord charged the company an annual rent of one dollar. The company later advised landlord that it was closing the laundry room on May 1, 2009, for financial reasons. The company didn’t remove the equipment until December 2009, and tenants claimed that the laundry room remained open until then.

The DHCR asked the court for permission to take the case back for reconsideration since landlord wasn’t given an adequate opportunity to be heard and it wanted to conduct a fact-finding hearing. The court ruled for the DHCR and sent the case back to the agency.

Rockaway Pratt, LLC v. DHCR: Index No. 258/13 (Sup. Ct. Kings; 3/12/14; Silber, J)